Take Care
by Anne04
Summary: Bonnie Bennett is busy living the college life as far as way from anything supernatural as possible, when someone starts murdering witches. She realizes she might just be a potential target as her past suddenly comes back to haunt her in the form of an old "friend". Takes place sometime after season three, but with some AU elements
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**_  
_

_She was running down the long corridors of the school, frantically looking over her shoulder and trying to avoid crashing into a wall at the same time. She had no idea where Vampiric (as she had secretly named Alaric after his transformation) was, but she knew she had to escape. Her powers barely affected him and her best option for survival right now was to get to safety as fast as possible._

_She crashed through the front doors of the school, spotting her car in the parking lot and increased her speed as much as her screaming lungs would allow. She was so close. If she could only get to her car, she would be able to get home and lock all her doors. Her car was almost within reach when she was pushed roughly forward and hit the pavement hard. She could feel it ripping through the skin on her hands and knees, but tried to ignore the pain and instead get up quickly. Before she could move, however, someone grabbed her by the hair, pulling her up and slamming her against the car._

"_And you" his dark voice said. "You, I think I might you hate the most!"_

"_Alaric, please" she begged pathetically, trying not to look at him. It hurt to see the creature he had become._

"_You're supposed to fight them, kill them. But what do you do? You help them" he snarled at her angrily, like it was a personal offense to him. "You're a disgrace to your own kind!"_

"_Please don't do this" she sobbed, wiping the blood on her hands on her jeans. They were ruined anyway._

"_It didn't have to be this way, Bonnie" he told her darkly. "But it's your own fault!"_

_She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain._

* * *

Bonnie Bennett sat upright in her bed, panting and sweating like she had just run fifteen miles. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to slow down her heart. She had been having this nightmare on and off for four years now, but it never got any less scary. It always felt as real as it had been four years ago, when it actually happened. Sometimes she just saw herself running down the corridor of her old high school; sometimes she made it all the way to the end of the dream, where Vampiric ripped out her heart, laughing like a maniac as she crumpled to the ground. The last part didn't actually happen, of course. That was her scared mind playing tricks on her. She was in fact very much still alive, with a beating heart in its rightful place. It was almost like having her heart ripped out by her witch-made vampire history teacher was more believable than what had actually happened.

She took another deep breath, pushing her covers away and getting out of bed. It was pointless trying to go back to sleep now anyway. She looked at the other side of the cramped room and noticed that Alicia's bed was empty. Another busy night for her roommate, then.

* * *

Bonnie Bennett was _not_ a quitter! In fact, Bonnie Bennett was a fighter. It just so happened she was also very much a realist, which was why she had come to the conclusion that Mystic Falls would forever be just that: mystic. She would never be able to rid the town of its supernatural element and she would never be able to live a happy life in a town filled to the brink with all the things that go bump in the night and their scary cousins. So upon graduation she had left. It wasn't the cowardly drive off in the middle of the night kind of way; she had stayed and celebrated with her friends (the ones that were still alive, mind you), said her goodbyes, cried as she took one last tour of the city and locked up her gramps' house for good. But Bonnie Bennett had left and she had never looked back!

Her father would come and visit her sometimes; he had business associates in the area and claimed to like the weather. It was a complete lie, of course, but Bonnie appreciated the effort all the more because he had never made one when she was younger and Abby had been such a monumental let down it still ached to even think about.

Caroline had left after graduation as well. She too had given up on their small hometown. Tyler had been one of the many casualties of their endless fight against all things Original, although he hadn't been killed by either side. In the last weeks of fighting werewolves had thrown themselves head-first into the fight by killing off a bunch of Klaus' precious hybrids, starting with Tyler. They had only found some off the remains and even Stefan and Damon had looked appalled at the sight of the leftovers. Klaus, in retaliation, had cleaned Virginia of werewolves.

Caroline had been understandably upset about the events and had left Mystic Falls in a depressed state without any real idea of where she was going. She had ended up in Paris, stayed there for a year of so and then started her tour of Europe; Rome, Madrid, London, Moscow (Bonnie had no idea why Caroline had decided to visit Moscow, but she appreciated the postcard all the same), Copenhagen, Athens and then the final frontier; Klaus' bed. In the end, a world-weary Caroline had found the comfort and companionship she had so desired in Klaus and although pretty much every horrible thing that had ever happened to Bonnie could be traced back to Klaus (she was sure even her broken leg in fifth grade was somehow his fault), Bonnie simply couldn't find it in herself to blame Caroline for her decision. Say what you want about Klaus, and Bonnie certainly had, but he truly seemed to love Caroline with all his heart.

Elena had stayed longer in Mystic Falls than Bonnie and Caroline. She had tried to keep in touch with her, but Bonnie had been reluctant to keep the friendship alive. Much like she blamed Klaus for a lot, she blamed Elena as well. It wasn't Elena's fault per say, but somehow, it always came back to that and Bonnie had sacrificed a lot on that account. Cutting the ties had just been easier than pretending to keep the friendship alive. The final straw was Elena's death and subsequent transition. Bonnie had obligingly made her former friend a day ring, but she had decided to not stay around and witness the transition. What little news she had about Elena's un-life came courtesy of Caroline, who had been almost offensively happy about her friend's transition into undead territory.

Elena had spent the first year of her immortal life going back and forth between Stefan and Damon in the most twisted love triangle imaginable. Bonnie found it quite amazing that any of them could stand each other long enough for them to make it a full year before Elena had given up on both of them. She had left, first for Denver to spend time with Jeremy who was trying to live the life Elena had wanted for him, and then to Italy, where she had met up with Elijah. Caroline was convinced the two of them were completely in love, but Elena wouldn't confirm this (Bonnie, secretly, thought Caroline was completely right).

She sometimes wondered why it was so much easier to forgive Caroline her transactions when it was so difficult to the same with Elena. Maybe it was because Bonnie was only a guest star in Elena's life, like so many others. Matt, Tyler, her gramps, Caroline, Alaric, John, Mason, Abby, countless faceless, nameless people that had passed through their lives….

* * *

Bonnie shook her head to clear her mind from the unpleasant walk down memory lane. She was grossly early for class but it was better than sitting around in her dark dorm room waiting for Alicia to come stumbling home wearing yesterday's clothes and this morning's shame. She sat down in the middle of the big room and started her daily routine of checking the news and her email. Sometimes there would be a new mail from Caroline, sometimes one from her father and once every now and then Jeremy sent her a short email asking her how she was and telling her what was going on in his life. She liked that about Jeremy, that he didn't just let people go. He was like Elena in that way, except Jeremy came without the crazy vampire drama. She was happy that he was able to live a normal life in Denver now (and she loved it when he sent her emails with pictures of his dog Max).

This morning it was from Caroline and Bonnie smiled a little as she clicked open. It wasn't long, mostly about the wonderful fashions of Rome, but she ended the mail by telling Bonnie that she would soon be returning home. Bonnie made a face. Caroline coming home would be great, she missed her old friend, but it seemed like wherever Caroline went, Klaus was soon to follow, and where Klaus was, there was bound to be more Originals lurking in the shadows. And Bonnie had absolutely no desire to see any of the Originals.

"Hey, you're here early" someone interrupted her thoughts.

Bonnie smiled up at the friendly face, only happy to have someone interrupt yet another walk down the dark memory lane. "Couldn't sleep" she said.

"Ah, another nightmare?"

Bonnie had met Lissie the first day of college and the two had bonded over everything from absent family members to moving very far away from home. And while Bonnie had certainly not divulged everything from her past, she had told Lissie about her recurring nightmare about being attacked by a crazy man in her high school parking lot.

"Just can't seem to shake them" Bonnie said, closing her computer. "Why are you here early?"

"Crazy roommate crashed through the door at six, so I figured I might just as well get an early start" Lissie told her.

The two girls chatted for a while, until the room started to fill with other students and then finally professor Sparr arrived and the class began. Bonnie wasn't sure exactly what about history had appealed to her, but she somehow felt drawn to the subject and now she was majoring in it. She had no idea what she would do once she was done with college but she figured she could cross that bridge when she got to it.

Lissie gave her a nudge. "We're getting out papers back."

Bonnie looked up and saw the T.A. handing out their papers and with a smile she noticed she had received an A.

"Ah, the Sparr giveth" Lissie commented with smile as she saw Bonnie's grade.

"The few of you who received an A will be required to prepare a short presentation of the most important points of your papers, and present them to your fellow students in order for them to fully grasp the assignment" professor Sparr told the class, making about five students, including Bonnie, sigh heavily.

"And the Sparr taketh away" Lissie grinned. "Wanna get drunk tonight?"

"Please" Bonnie replied, stuffing the paper in her back. The last thing she needed was more homework.

* * *

Bonnie kinda liked college life. She liked the freedom that came with it and she liked being so far away from home and that no one here knew about her past. Here, her biggest concern was preparing that stupid presentation and telling Alicia that her curling iron was simply off limits! No vampire emergencies, no crazy boyfriend drama and no witch stuff. The last thing had been a bittersweet choice. Bonnie loved being a witch, but there was so many bad memories attached to it that she had decided that in order for her to get a fresh start, being a witch was something she needed to leave behind in Mystic Falls.

She met up with Lissie and two of their other friends, Tina and Sara, at the college hangout where they spent most Friday nights. Neither of the girls had very active social lives, except for each other.

They were in the middle of discussing whether Tina should agree to a date with a thirty-year-old car salesman when Sara gently nudged Bonnie's foot. "That guy over there is staring at you." Bonnie tried to turn her head, but Sara squeezed her hand. "Don't look!"

"What" Lissie asked, leaning in over their small table.

"That guy over there" Sarah indicated in the direction of the bar, "has been staring at Bonnie for almost half an hour now!"

In a somewhat discreetly manner, Lissie turned her body around in the direction Sara had indicated. "Oh Bonnie, he's kinda cute. Way better than that econ-major you seem determined to waste so much time on."

"Ethan isn't a waste of time" Bonnie defended, even though it was completely true. Ethan was a guy she had met some time ago and they sometimes went on a date, even though Bonnie was always horribly bored and Ethan seemed more interested in the menu than her.

"Compared to this guy he definitely is" Sara said, leaning back in her chair to get a better look.

Curiosity overtook Bonnie and she twisted around to look as well and almost fell of her chair. A charmingly dimpled grin met her from the bar and he raised his glass slightly in a silent greeting. Bonnie coughed and immediately turned around.

"You know him" Tina asked.

"Kinda, yeah" Bonnie admitted. "I have to go!" She got up from the table before any of her friends could object and almost fled the bar with her mind racing. What the hell was Kol doing in Seattle?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Her first notion was to call someone and let them know that Kol was in Seattle. Unfortunately, her second notion was that she had no one to call. Caroline would most likely tell Klaus and if Bonnie was completely honest, she would take Kol over Klaus any day. She had not talked to Elena in about two years and while it might be nice to have Elijah around, acting as a responsible older brother and preventing Kol from murdering someone because it was a Thursday, it would be pretty hypocritical for Bonnie to call Elena and ask for help with a vampire problem. Jeremy was still extremely angry about the whole 'Kol pretending to be his friend' ordeal, so he was out of the question and that was pretty much the end of the list. Well, she supposed there was always Rebekah, but why make the problem worse?

So she decided to do nothing, except pay extra attention to the news and check for any mysterious deaths or disappearances, but nothing happened. And when five days had passed and still nothing had happened, Bonnie started to convince herself that it might not have been Kol at all at the bar. There more she thought about it, the more she was sure this guy had lighter hair and maybe his eyes were blue and not brown and his dimples were all wrong as well. Seeing Kol was probably just her mind playing tricks on her again. It had happened a lot right after Vampiric attacked her; she kept seeing him everywhere she went. So Bonnie decided to put Kol out of her mind for the time being, simply because it was easier that way.

* * *

_She hit the pavement hard and felt it tear through her skin, but before she could do much more than whimper, she was pulled up by her hair and roughly slammed into the side of her car. She pleaded with him, but he just kept ranting on and on about ridding the world of the vampire infestation. She quickly realized that there was no reasoning with this creature._

"_And you" his dark voice said. "You, I think I might you hate the most!"_

"_Alaric, please."_

"_You're supposed to fight them, kill them. But what do you do? You help them! You're a disgrace to your own kind!"_

"_Please don't do this!"_

"_It didn't have to be this way, Bonnie" he told her darkly. "But it's your own fault!"_

_She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain. He shook her hard and knocked her into the car again. She could feel her face making contact with the hard steel and a sickly crunch reached her ears._

"_Where is Klaus" he asked._

"_I don't know" she sobbed with blood pouring down her face. "Please stop, please…"_

_He eased his grip on her and for a moment she desperately believed he would let her go, but then he smiled. "You're just as bad as them. You should die like one of them!" Her eyes widened as he pulled out the stake and took a small step back._

_She wanted to plead, to say something, make him stop and see reason, anything, but it felt like her mouth was full of sand. She closed her eyes again, but the pain never came. Instead the sickly crunch that could only be made when someone's neck was snapped filled the air. She opened her eyes again and right behind Vampiric stood Kol. She felt her legs give way and she and Vampiric almost simultaneously dropped down on the pavement._

_Kol looked down at the motionless form. "Well, that's him down for a time." He turned his gaze to her. "Let's have a look you then." He pulled her up by the arms._

_She was shaking so much she could barely stand on her own. "Are you going to kill me" she asked in a whisper, her mouth dry even though she could easily taste her own blood._

_He smiled a little as his eyes fell on her bloody face, showing of perfectly white teeth. It made him look like a hungry shark, she thought. "Of course not, little witch. I'll take care of you."_

* * *

Bonnie was trying to slip out of class unnoticed. She had avoided Lissie's questions about her somewhat erratic disappearance-act from the bar the other night and tried to see her friends as little as possible.

"Okay, what is going on?"

Bonnie sighed and stopped outside the room. Lissie was standing in front of her with her arms crossed and narrowed eyes. She looked so much like Caroline right there that it almost made Bonnie smile. Almost.

"Nothing" Bonnie said with a casual shrug of her shoulders.

"Bullshit" Lissie said. "You've been acting strange since we went to the bar. Is it because Tina wanted to go out with the car salesman? Because I know you're big on moral and all that, but she's twenty-two and…"

"It's not about that" Bonnie interrupted. "I've just been really busy lately, that's all. I have to go, sorry!" She quickly sidestepped Lissie and hurried down the hall.

"Bonnie" Lissie called her name. "Bonnie!"

Bonnie continued to walk away, but stopped dead in her tracks when another voice called out. "Bonnie Bennett of Mystic Falls!"

Bonnie turned around and was immediately enveloped in a bone-crushing hug and showered in a curtain of blonde curls.

"Caroline, you're crushing me" she complained but smiled when her friend let go.

"Why haven't you returned my emails" Caroline asked accusingly when she let go.

"I'm sorry, Care, I've just been so…"

"Busy? Yeah, we heard" she said with a wink as Lissie caught up with them.

"Lissie, this is my old friend from high school, Caroline Forbes" Bonnie introduced and Caroline shook Lissie's hand enthusiastically.

"And this is my boyfriend, Klaus" Caroline introduced happily and Bonnie suddenly noticed the dark shadow that had been lurking somewhere behind Caroline.

"You brought Klaus" Bonnie said, trying not to sound too displeased.

"Hello Bonnie" he said with a wicked grin that made Bonnie want to set him on fire.

"I'm Lissie" Lissie said, eyeing Klaus.

"We should probably get going" Bonnie said, fearing Klaus would start snacking on Lissie any second.

Caroline scowled a little, but didn't object as Bonnie practically dragged her away and Klaus followed a few steps behind.

"Well, that was rude" Caroline muttered, as they found an empty seat that Bonnie thought was at least somewhat safely away from other people.

"Oh I'm sorry, I just didn't want your hybrid boyfriend eating one of my friends" Bonnie hissed.

"You know, I do know how to control my self" Klaus said in an offended tone.

"Really? Because I have yet to see that" Bonnie answered, looking at Caroline. "What are you doing here?"

"Are you kidding me? We haven't seen each other since last Christmas and you're wondering what I'm doing here? I missed my friend!"

Bonnie suddenly felt a little guilty. "I'm sorry Caroline. I was just so surprised to see you… And Klaus."

Caroline sighed. "Yes well, I didn't mean to bring him, but…" She looked at her boyfriend.

"Your witch cousin, Lucy… She's dead" Klaus said.

"What? How?"

Caroline bit her lip. "Someone ripped out her heart. Bonnie, I'm so sorry."

Bonnie frowned. "How do you even know that?"

"I've been keeping an eye on the witch situation. It never hurts to know who your allies are. But someone has been entertaining themselves killing witches" Klaus told her.

"Lucy isn't the only one" Caroline said, her voice laced with sympathy. "That's why I was so worried when you didn't answer my emails! I brought Klaus in case something had happened."

"I'm fine, Care" Bonnie said. She hadn't thought about Lucy for so long it seemed like she'd almost forgotten about her mysterious relative. And she had never had the chance to ask Abby about all the family she didn't know. Now it felt like too late and her last chance of getting to know that part of herself was gone. Then another thought popped into her head. "Klaus, can I ask you a question?"

"I believe you just did, love" he said with a grin. It made Bonnie momentarily think of another time he had said that, although he sounded a lot more friendly now.

"Do you know where Kol is?"

Caroline's head whipped around so fast she was in danger of it snapping right of. "Why?"

"No reason" Bonnie lied uneasily.

"Last I checked he and Rebekah were terrorizing the poor citizens of Vienna. Why do you ask?"

"I uh… I thought I saw him the other day, when I was out with some friends. It was probably just someone who looked a little like him though."

Caroline made a face, but didn't say anymore on the subject. Bonnie noticed, however, that Klaus had a small frown and looked a little worried. He should, she thought. If Kol, and possibly Rebekah, were back in the States that would spell trouble for Klaus, as they hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms. Rebekah had been furious about Klaus choosing his hybrids over his family and Bonnie was pretty sure she wouldn't exactly take lightly to his relationship with Caroline either. Kol didn't really seem to care too much about the hybrids, in fact he had used to find them rather amusing and could spend hours just bossing them around, making them do ridiculous things like moving all the beds into the kitchen and stand around in the garden like statues. He had, however, been extremely angry when he found out it was Klaus that killed their mother and had tried to torch him when Rebekah told him the truth. Elijah and Stefan had had to forcibly hold him down for almost an hour and after that the two brothers' relationship quickly deteriorated. Bonnie felt slightly guilty for how it all happened.

"Bonnie, are you even listening?"

"Huh?" She turned her attention back to Caroline. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I was just telling you about the great fashion in Italy."

"Oh, right…" Well, that would certainly explain why she wasn't paying attention. Fashion was something Bonnie would never be able to find even the least bit interesting.

"Aaaaand…. I ran into Elena" Caroline said in what was probably meant to be a subtle way. Unfortunately, Caroline was about as subtle as a flock of rhinos on a rampage.

"Okay…"

"She misses you" she pressed on. "Like, really misses you Bonnie. If you would just talk to her…"

"Unfortunately my calendar doesn't include going to Italy anytime soon" Bonnie deflected.

"Actually… Elena is coming home for Christmas. Elijah too… In fact, we're all going home, so I was thinking…"

"Caroline" Klaus suddenly warned.

"What? I was just telling Bonnie about our plans!"

"Why don't you tell her about the famous people you met in London instead, love" he suggested.

"Oh… Well, I met Hugh Grant and let me tell you he is just…"

Bonnie had no idea what Hugh Grant was exactly, because the sudden change in topic had made her suspicious. Why on earth would Klaus suddenly jump to her defence and make Caroline stop pestering her about returning home?

"And then he totally stole my coffee" Caroline finished and Bonnie quickly smiled like it was the best story she had ever heard.

"I should probably get to class. Are you staying in town?"

"Yeah, we _have_ to go shopping" Caroline said like it was the stupidest question she had ever heard. "We're staying at the Hilton."

Bonnie lifted an eyebrow but chose not to comment comment. Sometimes a little of that compulsion would be nice, she thought. Instead, she was stuck with her roommate Alicia who would constantly steal her curling iron, never clean up and generally brought home more strays than the animal control.

* * *

Bonnie was almost outside her class when Klaus caught up with her. "We need to talk little witch!"

"Don't call me that" she hissed, but stepped into a corner of the hall anyway. "Where's Caroline?"

"I asked her to get us some coffee." He took a deep breath. "It's serious."

"What?"

"The witch killings, it's serious! Vampires have gone missing as well."

"Not exactly a terrible loss!"

Klaus made a face like he wanted to rip her head of for a moment, then controlled himself. "Bonnie, consider this a warning. The dead witches were all known vampire sympathizers. A lot of them were related to you and the Bennett family in some way."

Bonnie took a step back, suddenly feeling worried. "Am I in danger?" It was weird, having this conversation with Klaus. Not too long ago he couldn't cared less whether she was in danger or not.

"I don't know yet. Was it Kol you saw?"

"I'm not sure, maybe. Does he have something to do with this?"

"No I don't think so."

"Then why would he be here" Bonnie asked. She was strangely desperate for it not to have been Kol.

Klaus pursed his lips a little and seemed to mull over his answer. "Have you considered the possibility that he might be here because he heard about the dead witches as well?"

"I don't understand…"

Klaus rolled his eyes and for a second he looked almost comically teenage-like. "If you see him again, call Caroline. I need to talk to him."

"He's your brother" Bonnie said in a somewhat childish manner. She really didn't want to spend any more time with Klaus than strictly necessary; if he wanted to talk to Kol, surely he could have one of his precious hybrids run out and find him?

"But I'm not the one he's checking up on, love."

* * *

The conversation had left Bonnie feeling uneasy and just a little bit paranoid. She wasn't by any means a vampire sympathizer, quite contrary actually, but she was aware that she would look like one to the outsider. She suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to call Abby and tell her about Lucy. She wondered if Abby even knew. Would Abby be in danger as well? Klaus had said that vampires had gone missing as well, and surely someone who used to be a witch and was now a vampire would be a potential target. Caroline and Elena were safe, of course, as long as they stayed with Klaus and Elijah. Bonnie had a hard time seeing anyone going up against Klaus, although attacking witches didn't exactly indicate someone with a fear of bodily harm

And then there was Caroline's unsaid plea for her to return to Mystic Falls for Christmas. Bonnie hadn't been back to Mystic Falls since she left and it didn't make the appeal to return bigger that the town would apparently be infested by vampires and Originals once again.

By the time Bonnie's last class was over her head was spinning. She considered just collapsing in bed and forgetting about Klaus, Christmas in Mystic Falls and dead witches for a while, but thought better of it when she got back to her room and saw her running shoes standing in front of the bed. Bonnie had taken up running not too long after Stefan had revealed himself as a vampire. She found it cleared her head of all her troubling thoughts, at least for a short time, and well, it never hurt being able to run a lot when your whole social network pretty much consisted of creatures that wanted to snack on you. She changed and left the dark room behind her.

* * *

Shortly before she reached the five miles mark, her foot caught on something and she stumbled, cursing herself and whatever had tripped her. With a sigh she humped over to a nearby park bench and sat down. Her foot didn't feel broken, but it didn't exactly feel great either.

"Hey wow, that was quite a show. Are you alright?"

Bonnie looked up and saw a blonde guy standing in front of her. "Yeah, just twisted my ankle I think" she replied, looking at the foot.

"Here, let me have a look" he offered, squatting down in front of her. "I'm Brent, by the way."

"Bonnie" she offered with a frown as the stranger started to grope her leg.

He smiled at her. "Bonnie and Brent? It's like we were meant to be."

Bonnie chuckled nervously. "Yeah…"

"Sorry, I think it might be sprained."

She raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

"I'm studying sports medicine" he told her, still smiling.

"Oh, so you're not just one of those creeps who tries to feel up all the female joggers?"

"Well, I'm one of the better educated ones" he laughed. "Where are you from? You don't sound local."

"Virginia" she said, without offering any specific location.

"So you're a long way from home then. Which was it, family trouble or boyfriend trouble?"

She couldn't help smiling at the way he read her so easily. "Bit of both."

"Alright, I think I'll take boyfriend trouble. That one's usually the easiest."

"Not much to tell really" Bonnie said with a shrug. She wasn't even sure why she was telling him anything. There was just something very charming about his smile and manner. It was almost infectious.

"Ah come on, there's got to be something to tell if you moved to the other end of the country" he said and sat down next to her. "What was his name?"

"Kol."

"Like Kings of Leon?"

"Yeah, exactly like that" she laughed. "In fact, I'm sure that's what his parents had in mind when they named him."

"Sorry. Pretty unusual name though."

"I think it's like a family name of something. His brother's name is Niklaus. It was a pretty messed up family." Understatement of the year, she told herself.

"So his family was the problem? They didn't like you?"

"Something like that, I guess… It was just all kinda wrong. And he was a bit of a jerk, really and my friends hated him."

"Sounds like great material for a horrible young adult novel" he said with a smile.

"You have no idea" she laughed. "Bella Swan has nothing on me!"

"Don't tell me he was a werewolf as well as a jerk!"

"I think werewolf would probably have been an improvement for him" Bonnie said, trying to keep her tone casual. "I should get home."

Brett stood up and helped her up as well. "Elevate it once you get home, plenty of ice on that and maybe a support bandage to help you walk the next few days."

"Doctor's orders" she asked with a smile.

"Exactly! You know what, just in case you have any further questions or need an extra consult, why don't I just give you my number and you can call me whenever. Even if it's not medical."

Before Bonnie could reply, he had written his number down on a scrap of paper and handed it to her. She stared at it for a moment. "I'm kinda dating someone."

"Kinda dating someone doesn't sound too serious" he countered easily. And it was true. Bonnie's affiliation with Ethan could only, at best, be described as very casual. She wasn't even sure if Ethan actually liked her or if he was just a little lonely. She pocketed the small scrap of paper. "Alright, maybe I will."

* * *

It was almost dark when Bonnie got back and the whole building seemed quiet so she took the opportunity to take a long warm bath, thinking about everything that had happened today. So in hindsight, maybe going running on your own when you knew someone was killing witches affiliated with vampires was a bad idea. And perhaps talking about Kol with a complete stranger wasn't exactly super-clever either. And calling him boyfriend was conceivably a bit of a stretch, seeing as they never actually got around to talk about what they were before it all blew up in their faces.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for a very nice response. I hope you'll all keep following (as it is apparently called now), fave'ing and especially reviewing. Also, I take full responsibility for any mistakes, plot holes and general confusion, but please review anyway.  
Much love, Anne****  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Bonnie woke up in a plush bed that definitely wasn't her own. It was too soft; she almost disappeared into the madras and the covers were silky smooth. She looked around the room, lit up by sunlight streaming through several tall windows. Wherever she was, it was somewhere she had never been before._

"_Good, you're awake." A haughty voice brought her out of her musings. "Now you can leave!"_

_She sat up with a start, staring into Rebekah's cold eyes. "What? Where am I?"_

"_In my brother's bed."_

_Bonnie looked around confused. "Why?"_

"_Do I look like his secretary" she hissed angrily._

"_No, you look like a right cow, Rebekah. Better make sure the wind doesn't turn and that expression sticks" Kol said, pushing his sister out of the way. "Good morning, little witch." With an angry hiss at her brother, Rebekah left the room. Bonnie could hear her banging the doors all the way down a corridor somewhere in the mansion._

"_So sorry about that. Even as a child she was a petulant little monster." He tilted his head a little as he observed her. "How are you?"_

_Bonnie opened her mouth and closed it again. She wasn't sure were to begin. "Why am I here?"_

"_You passed out last night and apparently your father is not home, so I brought you here." _

"_Why?"_

_He raised an eyebrow at her. "Did you want me to leave you lying on the street, bleeding?"_

"_Were you following me?"_

"_You know, a simple 'thank you' might suffice."_

"_Have you earned it?"_

"_You don't like me very much, do you?"_

"_You're a vampire" she deadpanned._

"_So, it's more like a vampire-thing than a Kol-thing then?" He made a face. "Good to know. But why is that?"_

"_Why is what?"_

"_Why don't you like vampires?"_

"_Because…" She stopped herself. Telling him that it was because Damon Salvatore was an evil jackass might not sound completely mature. "You're evil." Oh well, no such thing as maturity when it came to vampires, apparently._

"_Let me guess, the older Salvatore brother?"_

"_Something like that."  
_

_"So you hate an entire race based on one bad example? You do realize you're of coloured origin, right?"_

_She gaped at him. "Are you a accusing me of being a vampire-racist?"_

"_If the shoe fits, love! There I was, risking my rather pretty neck and all to save you from that teacher turned vampire-terror, and you don't even thank me for my heroic deed."_

"_Thank you" she muttered, swinging her legs out of the bed. "And now I'm leaving." She looked down at her legs, realizing she wasn't wearing pants._

* * *

"Bonnie!"

"hm, whaa?"

"You're drooling."

Bonnie opened one eye and tried to discreetly wipe the drool off her chin. "Care, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I _thought_ we had plans, but I guess you're just too busy making out with your bed" Caroline said with a raised eyebrow.

Bonnie closed her eyes for a second. "Sorry…"

"What were you dreaming about anyway? It sounded like you were in pain."

"Just a bad dream…"

"Not the one about the chocolate factory again, I hope, because…"

"How did you get in?"

"Your slutty roommate let me in. She asked me to ask you about someone named Brett."

"Brent" Bonnie corrected and immediately realized her mistake. Caroline could be a regular Sherlock Holmes when she wanted to.

"Oooh, who is Brent?"

"Just a guy I met yesterday when I was out running" Bonnie muttered, sitting up in bed.

"Bonnie Bennett, you little minx. Is he good looking?"

"Yeah I guess. He gave me his number."

"Are you gonna call him?"

Bonnie shrugged. "I don't know, I haven't really thought about it. And I just… There's a lot going on at the moment."

Caroline sat down on the bed next to her. "We don't actually know that. I mean, the witches could be a coincidence and you said it yourself, you don't even know if it was Kol. And even if it was, so what?" She gave Bonnie a bright smile. "Until further notice I insist you just enjoy life and definitely call this guy."

"Yes ma'am" Bonnie muttered.

* * *

They ended up at a local Starbucks where Bonnie already spent more time than what was probably within health-measures.

"What are your plans for Halloween?"

"Seriously Caroline, you don't think our lives are already enough of a nonstop Halloween horror-fest?"

"Halloween is fun" Caroline defended. "Come on, there's gotta be some really cool parties on campus."

"I'm sure there are."

"You could meet up with Brent."

Bonnie rolled her eyes but smiled. "I'm sure I could. Are you even in town for Halloween?"

"I might be. We haven't decided anything definite yet and Klaus is a big boy, he doesn't need me shadowing his every step."

"You sure about that?"

"So that's settled then" Caroline ploughed on. "You'll find an amazing party for us to attend. I bet your roommate knows one."

"Oh I have no doubt she knows several… What will you go as? Vampire Barbie?"

"Oh ha ha, very funny Bonnie. I take it you'll be party-pooper witch?"

"Fine, if it'll make you happy, I'll ask around for a party" Bonnie finally relented. There was no point in arguing with Caroline about something like that.

"And you'll call Brent."

"Yeah."

"Promise?"

"I promise!"

"Great, do it now?"

"What? Care, I don't even have his…" She stared at Caroline, who pulled Brent's number out of her pocket. "You're are so disinvited from my dorm room."

"Just call him. You need to move on."

"From what?"

"Hello, from the Kol-sized cloud that's been hanging over your head the last two years."

"I don't have… _that_…"

Caroline scoffed. "Whatever you say, but I know you, Bonnie Bennett."

"Will you stop saying my name like that?"

"And it's pretty obvious you were hurt by what happened."

"A lot happened" Bonnie lamented.

"I know, but that doesn't make your heartbreak any less real."

Bonnie looked down at her shoes. "He didn't break my heart." He had tried pretty hard to break her neck, though, she reminded herself.

"I think you broke his."

"I don't think he has a heart to break."

"Bon, that's not true…"

"Can we just not talk about this right now?"

"Okay, when _can_ we talk about it?"

"How about never?"

"How about now?"

"How about not?"

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Just call Brett."

"Brent. And fine, I will…" Bonnie found her phone in her pocket and dialed the number with a challenging look on her face. "Brent? It's Bonnie… I was wondering if you had time for a medical consult some time this weekend?"

* * *

Bonnie kinda liked Brent. He wasn't special in anyway, in fact he was a perfectly normal twenty-three year old guy who liked baseball, Italian pasta and rainy weather. Which was good, because they lived in Seattle, as he had pointed out. There were no awkward silences between them and he was funny without trying too hard and made her comfortable. It wasn't really a date, she figured, as they only went out for some coffee and cake one dreary Saturday afternoon, and he insisted on looking over her foot as well, but it was nice and Bonnie definitely wouldn't mind doing it again. He had asked a little more about her past, but she had evaded most of his questions; she had already told him more than she was comfortable with.

"So, where should I drop you off" he asked, as he paid for their coffee and cake.

"I live on campus."

"Ahh, living the reel student-life then?"

"Doesn't get any better than that" she laughed. "And I have the full package with a slutty roommate who steal my things!"

"I used to live with a guy who clipped his toenails in the common area" Brent countered.

"Oh gross! Really?"

"Oh yeah, just right there in the middle of the room. I stepped on one, once. I was afraid I might catch something."

"That's pretty bad."

"And then there was Elton, the emo guy."

"Emo?"

"Big on the emo, with long black hair and black nail polish and a very casual relationship with body hygiene."

"At least he didn't clip his toenails in the common area."

"No, at least he didn't do that. But he did steal my underwear once."

"No way? Now you're just making stuff up."

"Okay, the last one was made up" he laughed.

"I guess Alicia isn't that bad. I get to meet a lot of interesting people on that account."

"Should I take that to mean you have a very busy social calendar" he asked.

"Sadly no. I guess I'm usually a bit of a social reclusive" Bonnie said honestly. Since leaving Mystic Falls, where everything had been life and death all the time, she had fallen into a bit of a slump. Mostly she wouldn't go out at all because she had felt almost crippled after Kol, and when she finally did date someone, it would be guys like Ethan, who she was pretty sure was actually gay.

"Chosen or do you have a third eye hidden somewhere?"

"It's actually more a seventh toe kinda deal" she said with a mock-serious face.

"Oh is that right?"

"That's not a problem, right?"

He started to laugh. "You know, Bonnie. I think you should get out more."

"You do?"

"Yeah… Definitely, And I should come with you!"

She smiled. This was the reason she had moved to the other side of the country, why she hardly spoke to her old friends anymore, why she refused to speak about what had happened between her and Kol, even with Caroline who had watched it all go down in big horrible flames; it was almost worth it just so she could have normal days like this one.

"Well, give me a call one day and we'll see if that can be arranged" she promised as they arrived in front of her building. "I had a really nice time."

"Me too. So I guess I'll call you?"

"Yeah" she said with a smile, entering the building before it got weird. They definitely weren't at the kiss at the doorstep stage just yet.

* * *

Bonnie walked back to her room in a daze. Today, she had been a completely normal girl. She hadn't dreamt about Kol, she hadn't talked to Caroline, Klaus hadn't suddenly appeared out of nowhere and there had been no dead witches in the news. All in all, it had been a pretty great day. She opened the door to her room with a smile. Not even Alicia could ruin her mood right now.

"Ali, did you leave the cheese out again" she called as she entered the dark room. There was a funky smell in the room she didn't immediately recognize. "Because I thought we talked…" She stepped in something wet and almost fell over. Guess they needed to have another talk about leaving dirty laundry everywhere as well as a talk about the merits of cheese.

She turned on the lights and almost flew to the wall with a scream. There, in the middle of the room, laid Alicia with a stake through her heart.

* * *

**A/N: Dun dun duuuuuun. So this was pretty short and I apologize, but the good news is it should get more exciting from here on and I swear(ish) that the chapters will be longer as well.  
****As a pathetic side note: I decided to sprain Bonnie's ankle because I'm currently sitting at home with a sprained knee and I'm feeling pretty bitter about that, so I thought i might just spread the pain a little (I'm mean like that). You'll probably be happy though, as it also means I'm stuck at home with nothing to do but write and watch TVD reruns.  
****Review if you want Kol to pop up in the next chapter! Or if your name is Alicia and you want to flame me for slandering your good name (sorry about that, I really don't have anything against you). Or if you have teeth or breathe on your own. You know what, just review and make me disgustingly happy. ****Hope you're all having a fabulous summer with amazing weather!  
Anne**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Bonnie was sitting outside her dorm with shaking hands when Caroline found her.

"Bon, are you alright?"

"Yeah fine" Bonnie said in a hoarse voice as she disentangled herself from Caroline's hug. "I'm not the one with a stake through my heart."

Caroline stood up and peeked through the door. "Yikes" she said and made a face. "It's like bed, blood and beyond in there!" Bonnie didn't respond. "Why don't we go get some coffee or something" she offered.

Bonnie had called the police a few minutes after discovering Alicia's body and then immediately called Caroline as well.

"I can't, they have to interrogate me before I can go anywhere."

"Obviously you're not a suspect" Caroline said loud enough for the policemen milling around in the room to hear.

Bonnie just shrugged. Being a suspect wasn't really what she was worrying about right now. She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Someone killed my roommate with a stake."

"Bon…" Caroline sighed and sat down next to her. "It could just be a freak accident or something."

"Or it could be a message for me. Or maybe she was just there and I wasn't and the person just killed her instead."

"This isn't your fault, Bonnie!"

"Of course it's my fault" Bonnie said loudly. She blushed a little and lowered her voice. "Alicia wasn't a witch and she sure as hell wasn't a vampire. That stake was intended for me!"

"Oh my god Bonnie, I just heard" someone yelled and once again Bonnie found herself entangled in an awkward hug.

"Sara, hi… What are you doing here" Bonnie asked confused.

"I was freaking out, I wanted to make sure you were alright" Sara, trying to peek into the room as well.

"I'm fine… How did you know?"

"Oh, well you know" Sara said with a half shrug, looking even more awkward. "It's all over school that someone was murdered."

"Great, just what I need" Bonnie muttered darkly.

All three girls got up and shuffled away as a gurney was rolled out of the room. Bonnie closed her eyes for a moment. "Did you tell Klaus" she whispered to Caroline.

"Yeah, he's talking to some contacts right now" Caroline assured.

Bonnie nodded. That was good. She didn't exactly like it, but she was very aware that she was well over her head now and she would need all the help Klaus would offer to get through this.

"Miss, do you have somewhere you can stay for the time being" an officer asked her.

"Uh, I uh…" Bonnie rubbed her eyes again.

"You can stay with me, Bonnie" Sara immediately offered.

"No that's okay, Sara…"

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you're staying with me" she countered with a big smile.

"I think it would be best if Bonnie stayed with us for the moment" Caroline said, lacing her voice with intentions.

Bonnie didn't really want to stay in the same city as Klaus, much less in the same hotel room, but Caroline was right. She couldn't subject her friends to the potential danger of getting staked while she was out getting coffee or something similarly horrible. "Yeah, I'll stay with some… _friends_."

"Alright, we'll need your contact information and you just have to answer a few questions right now" the officer told her and turned around. "Hey Mikaelson, get the roommate's info and ask her about her whereabouts and all that."

Bonnie was sure that she had heard wrong. And even if she hadn't, there must be thousands with that last name! Still, her eyes widened almost comically and she thought Caroline sputtered something beside her, but she was too focused on the tall officer who turned around and gave her a dimpled smile, showing off a row of pearly white teeth and sharp incisors. She was sure her heart stopped for a moment. Sometimes she would torture herself with scenarios of her meeting Kol again and what she would say. This had never been one of the many imagined scenarios, though.

He turned to stare at Sara, who positively cowered under his glare. "You're excused." She fled without a second glance at Bonnie.

Before anyone could say anything, however, they were interrupted by Klaus. "Well well…" He looked his brother up and down. "Imagine my surprise when I finally manage to get Natasha on the phone to ask her what's going on and she tells me that my brother is already working on it."

"I imagine it must have looked positively comical, _brother_" Kol responded, not really meeting Klaus' eyes.

"Bonnie is going to stay with us for some time" Caroline said loudly, perhaps in an attempt to disrupt the tension positively rolling of both Klaus and Kol.

Kol lifted an eyebrow. "How fun for all three of you that must be. I just need to ask Bonnie a few questions."

"Ah right, you're an officer now" Klaus said and Bonnie could easily hear the mockery in his tone.

"For the moment. It makes it easier to keep an eye on what's going on."

"What _is_ going on" Bonnie asked. "My roommate…"

"Is quite dead, Bonnie, so there's no point in whining about her. She was staked through the heart with a wooden stake and left there for you to find."

"How… Are you serious" she asked.

"Yes, the other witches were given a much more… gory… send off than your friend" Kol told her quite emotionsles.

"How so" Klaus asked with a frown.

"The stake was wooden, but tipped with metal" Kol said.

"That's…. That's the stake Alaric used" Bonnie muttered, suddenly feeling woozy.

"But Alaric's dead! I mean, he died" Caroline interjected. "Elena died, so he died! He's dead!"

Bonnie could understand her rambling; they had both suffered at the hands of Alaric's evil extra personality. Just the thought of him lurking somewhere in the shadows, waiting for her, made her want to violently throw up and then hide under her bed.

Klaus sighed. "That bloody Salvatore twat buried him, didn't he?"

"Damon" Caroline asked. "Yeah, I think so… He was with him when he died." She looked at Bonnie, who just shrugged.

"I guess it's… possible… I don't know. Damon was probably pretty preoccupied by the fact that Elena was dead, though" Bonnie said. "No one really talked about it afterwards, because…" She stopped herself. No one had talked about it because Elena had died because of Rebekah and Caroline, Jeremy and Bonnie had then desiccated Rebekah in attempt to limit the Original-threat. Nothing good had come out of that.

"Seems we need to have a little chat with Mr Salvatore" Klaus said.

"But not now" Caroline said. "We need to get Bonnie home, it's been a really long day."

"Care, it's okay" Bonnie started.

"I actually need to ask Bonnie a few questions" Kol said, a smirk creeping onto his lips.

"So ask" Caroline challenged.

"Alone, Fluffy the Vampire Slayer" Kol sneered. "I understand you're attached to my brother's hip and you two certainly make a pair, but you're not Bonnie's guardian and this is an actual police investigation. You do know what that is, don't you? Or am I using too big words?"

"My mom's a sheriff!"

"How nice for her. Now leave."

"I'll just be down the hall" Caroline told Bonnie and with one last scowl at Kol, she and Klaus retreated somewhat.

"Where were you today?"

"Out" Bonnie said, definitely not willing to tell him she had been on a quasi date.

"With?"

"A friend."

"Does your friend have a name and a number?"

"Probably."

He smiled a little. "I need to rule you out as a suspect."

"You think I'd stake my roommate and then go out on a date?"

"So you were on a date then?"

"Kol, you know I didn't do this."

He pursed his lips a little. "Yes… It was most likely a warning for you."

Bonnie sighed and rubbed her face with her hands. "That's just…" Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. "I moved to get away from all this, so no one would get hurt anymore." She angrily wiped away a tear.

Kol was silent for a moment, then finally asked: "Will you be alright? With the Nazi blondes, I mean?"

"I don't really have anywhere else to go" Bonnie said.

"You know that's not true, little witch."

* * *

"Ready to go" Caroline asked, as Bonnie walked down the hall to meet them.

"Where's Kol" Klaus asked.

"Stayed to lock down the room."

"Alright, let's get you home. I was thinking we could rent a few movies, pig out on chocolate, maybe do a facial. Oh and I definitely need a new polish; how do you feel about orange?"

"Care, if it's okay with you, I kinda just want to get to bed. I'm really tired."

"Of course Bonnie, totally!"

Bonnie smiled tiredly. "Thanks."

They drove to the hotel in silence. Bonnie rested her head against the window in the backseat, trying to figure out what was going on, but it was hopeless. Everything just felt like a huge mess and it was a bitter pill to swallow that Alicia had been killed just because she shared a room with Bonnie. They had never really been friends, and truth be told Bonnie had often badmouthed her roommate to her friends, telling them about her more than frivolous lifestyle, many male visitors and love/hate relationship with alcohol. But they had been friendly enough and Bonnie was absolutely sure that there hadn't been as much as a mean fibre in Alicia's body; she was just a nice girl who loved to party and was now dead.

The car rolled up in front of a giant hotel and Bonnie slowly got up, staring with wide eyes. She looked at Caroline confused. "How can you afford to live here?"

"Klaus is loaded" Caroline told her with a shrug.

Bonnie frowned at her friend. "How is that possible, exactly? He doesn't really seem like the working type?"

"You know what really helps when you make investments" Klaus asked with a smug smile. "Having a psychic witch picking out your investment ventures."

"You're kidding?" Bonnie's frown turned into a scowl. "On behalf of my whole kind, I'm deeply offended."

"No worries, love, she was handsomely rewarded for her services" Klaus said, still smiling and Bonnie wondered if "handsomely rewarded" in his world meant that she got to keep her heart in her chest.

"We have an extra room attached to our room" Caroline explained as they rode the elevator up the many floors.

"Great. Why?"

"Oh you know, recreational use and such" Caroline said in a somewhat high-pitched voice.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Oh god, I so don't want to know."

The elevator pinged and they all got out, with Klaus leading the way. It was a rather lavish room and Bonnie almost felt guilty for staying in such a fancy place. Caroline, however, was all smiles and showed her around while talking nonstop about anything and everything. "And here you can stay until we have sorted everything out."

Bonnie peeked inside warily. It was a nice room, no doubt, but she felt awkward even being here and wasn't sure if she would be comfortable sleeping in the room next to two vampires.

As it turned out, she wasn't. She spent most of the evening just lying in the too soft bed, staring up into the ceiling and wondering if Klaus and Caroline were hungry, whether they had eaten (who they had eaten?), if she could have done anything to prevent Alicia's murder, what would have happened if she had been home when the killer attacked and if she could be blamed for feeling happy that she wasn't in fact home when the killer attacked?

She could hear Klaus and Caroline rumble around in the next room until sometime around midnight, when things quieted down and eventually there was an almost deafening silence in the hotel rooms. She felt guilty for feeling unsafe sleeping so close to one of her oldest friends, but she couldn't help it. Ever since Caroline had been turned, it had been difficult for Bonnie, no matter how much she tried and how many times she told herself that her friend wasn't even at fault for her new "condition".

* * *

Around three in the morning Bonnie gave up and got out of bed. She sat on the floor for a while, trying to calm down, but it was impossible and with a sigh she found her phone in her coat pocket and dialled the familiar number, although it made her heart ache.

"Need me to come get you" he asked on the other line.

"Please" she begged.

"I'll be there in ten" he told her and Bonnie was glad that there at least was no malice or glee in his voice over her sudden need for him.

She tiptoed around the eerily quiet hotel room, writing a quick note for Caroline so she wouldn't worry and then as quietly as she could, she closed the door behind her, breathing a sigh of relief when no noises inside erupted except for a light snoring. She found it sort of comical that something as scary Klaus would do something so lowly and human as snoring. She stayed for another moment, but still no sounds other than the snoring. She guessed they felt very safe in her company, not that she blamed them; a disillusioned ex-witch probably didn't pose much of a threat for a vampire and a vampire-werewolf (vampolf, she thought with a slight smile) hybrid.

She sat outside in the freezing Seattle night, waiting for Kol to arrive. Still, it was better than lying on a bed, staring into ceiling and wondering if you'd be made into a Happy Meal by the two vampires sleeping next door. She was happy to be alive, she decided, as she stared at the few people going about their business around her. She was extremely sad for Alicia, but she was glad that it wasn't her.

A car pulled up in front of her and she got up as she saw Kol sitting on the driver's seat. It was such a strange sight, seeing him drive.

"Are you even suppose to be behind the wheel" she asked as she got in.

"Now is that any way to great your rescuer? We really need to have a chat about your appalling manners, Miss Bennett" he replied, looking her over. "Where are your things?"

"Back at the dorm. I didn't really feel like brining anything after the whole…"

"Staked dead roommate?"

"Yeah…. I was kinda avoiding that whole topic for now" she sighed, leaning back in her seat. "How come you drive an Audi?"

"What did you expect, a broom?"

"Ha ha very funny… Elijah drove a SUV."

"That's because Elijah actually wants to be a suburban housewife" Kol told her, putting the car in gear and leaving the hotel.

"What does that make Elena" Bonnie mused.

"Probably rather bored, which will go great with that tedious personally of hers."

Bonnie liked that they could still be like this, just talking and bantering like nothing bad had ever happened, even if it was at the expense of Elena.

"Thank you…. For coming to pick me up, I mean."

He flashed her a brief look. "You owe me one now."

"Of course I do" she sighed. Nothing with Kol ever came for free. It was a family trade, she thought gloomy.

They sat in silence until Kol pulled the car into a small private parking lot and killed the engine. She followed him out of the car and into a tall building with dimly lit halls.

"So, this is where you live now?"

"Sometimes" he replied and pushed the number four-button.

"Still afraid of heights" she asked with a smile.

"You really should be nicer, little witch, or you'll find yourself sleeping on the fire escape."

The elevator stopped and he led her to a door almost at the end of the hall, opening it up to reveal a dark apartment. Even though no lights were on, she could still sense it was bigger than your average apartment.

"Still afraid of small rooms as well" he muttered, turning on the lights in the open kitchen.

She knew that, of course. He had confessed it to her one rainy night when they were lying in her bed, just talking. He had told her that after being confined for so long in a coffin, the thought of small rooms had become _"very unappealing"_, as he had put it.

She looked around the apartment, noticing it was mostly an open floor plan, which didn't surprise her much. There was a small kitchen that was mostly empty, which wasn't exactly surprising either, as the only thing Kol had ever managed to accomplish in a kitchen was a small explosion involving some extremely sinister-looking lasagne and ruining her blender when he put a fork in it (she had made him buy her a new pink one). No TV, she saw. She made a face because she kinda liked watching TV at night, but figured it shouldn't surprise her either. Kol had been completely ignorant of TV or the Internet or even something as ridiculously mundane as telephones when she had met him. She could still vividly remember him sitting down in front of her father's big plasma screen, staring at it in awe when she had turned it on. He had then proceeded to power through a Bachelor-marathon, yelling at both her and the TV about the _"prancing trollops throwing themselves at the shaved bear stuffed into a suit" _(she'd had to look up the word "trollop" afterward)_._ When they had started the bachelorette program, he had thrown up his hands and declared a complete lack of faith in humanity when such _"horrible soulless creatures where allowed to prey on unsuspecting people through a big magic box hanging on the wall." _Bonnie had snorted so hard into her cup that she had spilled coffee all over her shirt, although she found the notion about "soulless creatures" a bit preposterous coming from him.

"You can have the bed, if you want. You must be tired."

She turned to look at him, really look at him for the first time since outside her dorm room. He looked the same, which was to be expected, but it was weird seeing him in a police officer uniform and it just hit her that she hadn't asked him about it.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like a cop. You're not an officer now, are you?"

"Would it be so unbelievable if I was?"

"Yes" she almost laughed.

"It's a good cover. And I get to meet such _interesting_ people." The last bit was said with such a gleam in his eyes that Bonnie was instantly reminded that Kol was really just a predator wearing a nice guy as a suit.

He smiled a little. "Ah, still as judgemental as ever, I see."

"Did you expect something different?"

"I would never expect anything from you, little witch." She hated the way he used his old term of endearment against her. "I learned that a long time ago."

She narrowed her eyes. "Do you want to talk about it?" She folded her arms. "We never talked about what happened."

He opened the fridge, taking out a blood bag. "You tried to murder my sister. Did you expect me to stay and chat with you after that?"

"I'm not sorry… She killed Elena."

"Well, no worries on that part, little witch, I can promise you your former BFF is quite alright, despite being dead and all!" He took a sip and Bonnie had to look away. "I'm not sorry either."

"Kol, you tried to kill me! And then you blackmailed me by threatening to kill Jeremy!"

"How is Jeremy, by the way? We had such fun in Denver."

"Don't change the subject!"

He was standing in front of her before she could even blink. "I meant what I said back then, little witch!"

* * *

**A/N: Ooooh a cliffhanger, sort of. Any guesses what he said back then? Thanks for all your wonderful reviews and the faves and follows - I hope you'll keep it up. Extra thanks for the well wishes, the knee is feeling much better and I'm sure it's all because of you (and perhaps the fact that I've been sitting on my ass for two weeks).  
Next chapter is about how Bonnie and Kol found each other, so review review review if you're excited about that (and I would love to hear if you have any ideas about how they met - like maybe they were both at the circus at the same time, or maybe both waiting in line in the local supermarket or perhaps they both really needed something from a hardware store?)  
Lots of summerly love, Anne**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: We're jumping back to the good old high school days for this one. Hope you like it.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Bonnie plopped down in the seat with a sigh. She had no idea how she was going to explain this one to her father. Maybe she could tell him it was a female thing, something to do with her period? That usually made him shut down and drop the subject altogether.

She looked around the dreary office with a grimace. It wasn't really a surprise she was here, Elena had been in the office twice this semester already, Jeremy practically lived here last year and she was certain the only reason Caroline had managed to avoid getting called here was compulsion. She made an involuntary face; if Caroline was going to cheat, she could at least have the decency to cheat for all of them!

"You don't look to happy to be here" someone noted beside her.

Bonnie turned around, embarrassed she had ben caught making faces, and stared into a pair of very pretty brown eyes. "Well… I'm waiting for the student counsellor, so no…."

"Ah" he smiled a little. "Have you been naughty?"

There was something about the way he said it that made her want to smile instead of being offended. Maybe it was his accent. "My grades have been slipping" she admitted.

"Oh. I take it they don't take that too kindly around here then?"

"Not exactly" she answered, still smiling. "Are you new here? I don't remember seeing you around."

"Yes, quite new in fact. I just relocated here with my family."

"That's nice. Are you from England?" She thought the accent sounded British, but he could be Australian as well, she mused.

"Was it the accent that gave it away" he asked with a smile.

"Afraid so."

"Ahh… My brothers' and I have been trying to loose it for years, but nothing seems to do the trick."

"Don't worry, it's pretty cool."

He turned a little in his seat so he was facing her. "You think so?" He looked her up and down for a moment. "What's your name?"

"Bonnie."

"I'm Kol, Bonnie" he introduced.

"Kol? That's a pretty unusual name."

"It's a family name. What can you do?"

Bonnie smiled. "Trust me, I know."

"Yes, it has been _a while_ since I met a girl named Bonnie."

"So, why are you here? _Your_ grades can hardly be slipping already?"

"I'm actually a little bit lost" he said in a stage-whisper.

She laughed. "And naturally, being a guy, you can't ask for directions, right?"

"Something like that" he said, also smiling. "But I sudddenly find I don't mind too much."

She could feel herself flush; it was so rarely anyone paid her a compliment and her self-esteem had taken several hits this year; having her mother abandon her yet again and her best friend's younger brother pretty much dumping her (for his dead vampire girlfriend, no less) hadn't exactly boosted it.

"Miss Bennett" the counsellor said, her head peeking out of the door to her office.

Bonnie sighed and got up. "I uh, I have to go, but it was nice talking to you" she said slowly, hoping her voice was shaking as much as she thought it was.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Bonnie" Kol said and gave her a brilliant smile.

"If you…" She swallowed. "Seeing as you're new, if you wanted to stay and wait, I could show you the town. Only if you want…"

"I would love to" he said, still smiling. "I'll be here when you're done."

* * *

Bonnie was ashamed to admit that she was a bit surprised to see him still waiting when she exited the counsellor's office (she had been forced to promise repeatedly to do better in both world history and math and to take part in more school activities - Caroline would love that).

"You look surprised" he commented.

"A bit" she said with a nervous smile.

"Ahh, ye of little faith, but I have been looking forward to a tour of your charming little town. I hear it's very rich on history."

"You heard right" she said, putting on her sweater. "Although, I should probably admit right now that history isn't really my thing."

He got up and followed her down the halls. "Why is that? History is what makes us who we are. I find the topic very fascinating, although I'm more into the last few centuries than this one."

"Maybe you can help me improve my grade then" she joked.

"I would be honoured."

She looked at him for a moment; he was ridiculously good looking and had the prettiest brown eyes she could remember ever seeing. Why was he even paying her any attention, when there were people like Elena Gilbert and Caroline Forbes running around out there?

"And this is the town square" she reflected nervously, in fear she might embarrass herself by gushing all over him. "Pretty much every other day there's some kind of town event."

"Sounds intriguing" he mused, looking around. "It's not a very large town, though."

"No, it's kinda small town living" she agreed. "Uh, this is the Grille, where everyone eats at least once a week."

He looked at the Grille. "Well, I could go for a nibble, if you're up for it?" He smirked a little.

"Sure" she said with a smile.

They found a table in the crowded room and sat down. She wondered if they were sitting in Jeremy's section, but decided she didn't care because he deserved to see her having fun with a devastatingly good looking guy.

"So, tell me about your self, Bonnie Bennett" he said.

"Not much to tell, really. Lived here all my life, absent dad, no mom around and I'm an only child… I used to be a cheerleader, but it's been a bit of a crazy year..."

"I think I can picture you in a cheerleader uniform" he said with a smile, making her laugh as well. He closed his eyes for a moment. "Yup, there it is. Oh, you look very good!"

She blushed a little more but couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud. "Stop that!"

"Uh…" A voice interrupted their laughter. "Are you ready to order."

Bonnie looked up and felt her cheeks flush again, but for a whole other reason this time. Jeremy was staring at them with an oddly blank look on his face.

"Uh yeah" she said slowly. "I'll just have coke and some fries, I think." She looked at Kol.

"Double that" he said without even looking at Jeremy.

"Yeah, sure" Jeremy muttered, shuffling away from their table like a pack of wild dogs were chasing him.

"What about you" she asked once she had regained her composure somewhat.

"What about me" he asked.

"Well, I told you about me…"

"Aaah, it's my turn now, is it? Well, let's see… Absent father, even more absent mother, nasty divorce! I have four siblings…"

"Four?"

"Yes! And yes, it does get quite crowded in the house."

"Are you close with them?"

"I was, but it's been a long time since any of us were really close. Our father had a certain way of driving a wedge between us, I'm afraid, which we unfortunately were very susceptible to."

"I'm sorry" she said.

He flashed her another one of his bright smiles. "No matter, it was a long time ago."

"So, you live with your mother now?"

"In a way. She's not around much."

"Yeah, I know that feeling" she muttered.

"Guess we have something in common then."

She was just about to reply when two plates with fries were placed on the table in front of them along with two glasses of coke. "Hey Bonnie." She wasn't really surprised to see Matt bring them their food and gave him a smile. "Jeremy…" He made a face. "I think it just really weirded him out."

"It's fine Matt" she assured. "Thanks for bringing our food."

"No worries" Matt said, turning to Kol. "Hey, I'm Matt, a friend of Bonnie's."

"Kol" Kol said.

"Well, I'll leave you guys to it. See you in school, Bonnie."

She smiled at Matt and turned her attention back to Kol. "Like I said, everyone comes here."

"Even your former boyfriend" he noted.

"Yeah… How did you know?"

"I do have eyes. I take it that it didn't end well."

"Seeing as were not together anymore, no…" She smiled a little. "Sorry about that."

"No worries. We all have a past we can't run from."

"I suppose that's true." Thankfully, Bonnie thought, they changed the subject as they ate their fries and talked a little about how the school was and the kind of teachers that worked there.

Bonnie looked up as the door to the Grille opened and saw Elena enter with Stefan in tow. She gave them a small smile and a wave.

Kol turned around in his seat to see who she was waving at and gave a wave himself. Bonnie frowned a little at the looks that crossed her friends' faces. Elena looked completely shocked and the normally so composed Stefan looked like someone had just pantsed him in the middle of the town square.

"Wonder what's wrong with them" she mused, still looking at her friends.

Kol shrugged, but his smile had somewhat widened. "No idea." He looked at his watch. "I'm afraid I should probably get going. It was _very_ pleasant to spend time with you, Bonnie. We should do it again soon."

She smiled at that. "I would like that."

He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek before walking out, stopping next to Stefan for a second and then disappearing out of the door.

Elena was at her side in an instant. "Bonnie! Are you alright?" Her voice was panicked and she was looking Bonnie over like she was looking for physical injuries.

"I'm fine! What's wrong?"

Stefan appeared a moment later. "Bonnie, are you okay" he asked with concern evident in his voice.

"Of course I am, what is wrong with _you_?"

Elena got that look in her eyes she sometimes got, like she felt sorry for Bonnie. It always made Bonnie feel stupid and she hated it. "Bonnie, that was Kol…"

"Yeah I know" she said, beginning to feel annoyed at their strange behaviour.

Elena and Stefan shared a look. "He's Klaus' brother!"

"What?" Bonnie felt like they had both just doused her with a cold bucket of water. "No… He was… No…"

"Yeah… We saw him in the coffin. Apparently all the Originals are out of their coffins now" Elena explained.

"Oh…" Bonnie suddenly felt extremely stupid. He had been so open and flirty and nice, she should have known something was wrong. And his accent should have been a bit of a giveaway as well. She wanted to hit herself. She had guarded the coffins, she had even peeked inside once, but she had been so preoccupied with the one coffin that wouldn't open she hadn't taken the time to really register the inhabitants of the others. And of course there had been so many clues in their conversation. She wanted to bang her head into the table for her own stupidity.

"He didn't hurt you, did he" Stefan asked.

"No, he was…" Her throat felt extremely dry all of a sudden. "He was nice."

"Oh." Elena looked rather shocked at that. "You should really be more careful, Bonnie."

* * *

She had gone straight home after that, feeling so angry she thought she might just blow up. She just wanted to forget that this had ever happened. _God,_ how could she have been so oblivious? She wanted to scream and shout and throw things, but it was all so pointless now. She collapsed on her bed and tried furiously to not cry.

Of course, she hadn't been allowed to live this one down. There had been a crisis meeting at the Salvatore mansion to discuss the situation and Damon had made a big deal out of her stupidity. It had been almost impossible for her to hold her tears back when he was done with her. Caroline had been sympathetic and the only one not to scold her for her stupidity, while Elena, Damon and Stefan discussed why Kol had done it. They had all decided that he was trying to play mind tricks with their weakest link, something Bonnie found extremely insulting but chose not to comment on. She instead opted to stay home more, focus on brining her grades up again and staying clear of the whole vampire-chaos as much as she possibly could. And it worked, to some degree, until of course Alaric had been turned into a crazy vampire slayer with a serious rage-issue. Damon had clearly blamed Bonnie for this as well, although she had almost died from the bite and hadn't even been conscious.

* * *

And then one night she had forgotten her history textbooks at her locker and was forced to collect them if she wanted to have a chance at passing a test the following monday. She had thought about maybe calling Caroline to ask her to accompany her, but then shook her head, telling herself she was clearly overreacting; Alaric was _not_ hiding out in his classroom like some overstuffed spider, just waiting for someone to crawl into his net. As it turned out, though, that was exactly what he was!

She had woken up in a strange bed, dazed and confused, to be met by the horrible Rebekah, whom Bonnie was starting think might just be the worst of all the Originals, simply because she was so extremely whiny and annoying. Kol had given her a brief rundown of what had happened the night before and Bonnie had decided it was definitely time for her to go home. And that's when she discovered that she wasn't wearing any pants and someone else's Sex Pistol tour shirt.

"This isn't my shirt" she exclaimed in a horrified voice.

"Your clothes were bloody. And my sheets were rather expensive."

"Oh god… Oh god, I have to get out of here now." She leapt out of the bed, not even caring that she was missing her pants and wearing a slightly too short Sex Pistol shirt. "I… Thank you for last night, now if you'll excuse me, I need to go home and find out what European practice the encomienda system of colonial Spanish America most resembled!" She shuffled out of the room as fast as she could, rushing down the stairs. She could manage without pants, she decided.

"Leaving so soon" a voice asked and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Yes" she muttered, feeling extremely self-conscious. Klaus was sitting in a chair a few yards from her, reading a book she was pretty sure was Twilight.

"Shame… I'll be wanting my shirt back, witch."

Bonnie looked down at the offending shirt, seriously wondering if she should just take it off right now and be done with it. "Are you reading Twilight" she asked instead.

"Yes… Very enlightening, I've found. Although I do think all that shimmering like a Vegas dancer might not be very practical." He gave her a cold smile.

"Can I ask you something?" She had nod idea were this rush of courage was coming from; maybe it was because if they wanted to kill her she would most likely already be dead.

"I believe you just did" he sighed, turning a page. "Oh this Edward character, he's just completely ridiculous. Why doesn't he just…"

"Why Caroline?"

He looked up at her, but before he could answer, they were interrupted. "Oh god, you're _still_ here" Rebekah drawled. "Don't you think you've overstayed your welcome?"

"I'm leaving now" Bonnie sneered, rushing out of the mansion. She could barely believe that had just happened.

* * *

She took the most deserted route she could think of home, hoping no one she knew had seen her wandering around the streets in a battered old t-shirt and her pink Snoopy undies. She needed to call the others and tell them that Vampiric were hiding out at the school, but her phone had been in her bag, which was probably still lying on the parking lot along with her history book. She groaned. There was just no way she was going back for that now. She dialled from the landline and got Elena's answering machine, leaving a message telling her about the night's events and then called Caroline to warn her about staying away from the school after dark.

She had only just gotten out of the shower, when the phone started to ring. "Bennett residence" she answered, trying to get the water out of her ears.

"Bonnie, are you okay?"

"Hey Lena, yeah fine, just a bit shocked."

"Alright, we're meeting at my house in about fifteen minutes, we really need you to come over and tell us exactly what happened!"

Bonnie sighed. She kinda just wanted to disappear beneath her covers and stay there for a couple of days with too much chocolate and Pretty Woman on a loop. "Yeah sure, I'll be there." She hung up before Elena could answer and started to find some clean clothes.

It had been another lecture for her, when she had finished telling them what happened (she had skimmed over the whole 'running home in Klaus' t-shirt and Kol being strangely nice, _again_). Elena had gotten that look in her eyes again, the one that made Bonnie feel like an irresponsible five-year-old, and Stefan had frowned so hard his eyes almost disappeared, while Caroline had said nothing. Damon, of course, had been livid and yelled at her for her being the most irresponsible and moronic witch to ever exist for her continued dalliance with an Original. And then, when words seemed to fail him, he had shook her so hard she thought she might actually get a concussion.

Stefan and Caroline had jumped up to intervene, but not before Bonnie felt so shaken she wasn't sure she could stand on her own. She was so sick of Damon always taking his anger out on anyone else than Elena, when she was in fact the one that deserved it most of the time. She was just sick of everything.

"I'm going home" she sighed, picking up her jacket. "I just… I need to get home." It was unfair she was forced to say something like that two times in one day.

"Bonnie, no… Please, he didn't mean to" Elena started.

"He never does, Elena, but somehow people always get hurt around him. And I'm sick of getting dragged into this chaos every single time you guys have a situation. I'm going home! Don't call me!" She slammed the door shut behind her and felt a little better, a little vindicated. It died a little on her way home, though, and she wondered if maybe she had been a little unfair to Elena? Maybe, she decided with a sigh, but she really needed a break now. No crazy vampire hybrids, no near-deaths, no absent mother's appearing and disappearing in her life, no stupid ex-boyfriend who would rather be with a vampire-ghost than her and no Damon-drama. That was what she needed!

She ended up on the sofa with a lot of blankets, even though it wasn't actually cold, and all the chocolate she had managed to find around the house (she had even done a search of her father's office), watching reruns of Gilmore Girls and Top Model. If life could always be like this, she was certain she would be a happier person.

* * *

She woke up sometime around morning as the doorbell rang, with drool on the pillows and melted chocolate on her cheek. Nice, she thought, as she got up to answer the door.

"Yes" she asked, her eyes squinting in the intense sunlight that hit her.

"You left this at my house."

She took a step back involuntarily as she looked at Kol, holding her bag out to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Your bag" he said, looking down at the object in question.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously when she noticed he was holding it just so she would have to cross the step of her house to get it.

"You really have an astoundingly small amount of faith in your fellow… _Creatures_." He smiled at her and tossed the bag inside. "There we go. If I wanted to have a bite, I would have done it last night."

"Why didn't you?"

"You smell bad."

"Excuse me?"

"Tis true, little witch. You stink of judgement. It would be like drinking stale beer."

She gaped at him, stuck between being mortified or insulted. What was she supposed to say to that?

"What happened to your arms?"

She looked down at her arms, where large purple-bluish bruises were already forming in the shapes of two strong hands. "Damon Salvatore" she said.

"Hm" he said, tilting his head a little like he was studying her. "You should be more careful in the future, I might not be around to fill the part of dashing hero next time." He turned to leave, but stopped after a few steps and turned around again. "It's manorialism."

"What" she asked, frowning.

"The answer to your question. The encomienda system, as established in the Spanish colonies in the Americas and the Philippines, shared many important features with manorialism."

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Like what?"

"Ah, I'm afraid that would be cheating. But you should appreciate history more, it might offer you some enlightenment." He grinned and then walked away before she could say anything else.

* * *

Bonnie decided to keep this encounter to herself; she definitely didn't need another shakedown from Damon and she could go a day or two without Elena giving her the pity-stare. She tried to avoid Elena and Caroline as much as possible at school as well as she still felt a little humiliated by their treatment and she needed some time to think it all over. Also, she was still trying to save her grades, which had proved harder than she initially thought (those math equations felt a little like having your teeth pulled out slowly, she thought with a sigh whenever she opened her math book).

She was however doing a lot better in English literature and world history and was pretty sure she had managed to get at least a decent grade on her world history test. The thought of not having to spend any more time with their guidance counsellor made her smile a little as she walked to her car, until she noticed Damon Salvatore leaning up against it.

"I'm not above setting fire to you right here in the parking lot" she muttered as she unlocked the other door and threw in her bag.

"Tell your boyfriend to stop harassing me" he sneered at her.

"Jeremy is not my boyfriend anymore, if he's following you around like a lost puppy that's not my problem" she said, trying to get into the car.

Damon hammered the door shut in front of her and showed off a rather nasty burn on his hand that seemed to be still healing. "Not the boyfriend I was talking about" he said, staring her down menacingly. "It's seems you have a champion in the Original baby brother."

Bonnie stared at his hand. "Kol did this?"

"Yes! He also set fire to my car and tried to make a piñata out of me. A_pparently_" he moved a little closer to her, "he didn't like the way I treated you last time we talked." He looked a little like it was actually hurting him to say this. "So…. _I'm sorry._"

Bonnie just stared at him. "You're… Sorry?"

"Yes! Now, accept and get over it."

"What if I don't?"

"Then I'll huff and I'll puff until you do. You chose" Damon said coldly.

"Don't ever do it again" she said just as coldly, opening the door to her car. "And stay away from me from now on." She got in and drove away before he could argue with her further.

* * *

He was sitting at one of the tables in the Grille, all by himself, reading a book. She debated for a while whether to approach him and her morbid curiosity finally won out.

"So, I received an A on my world history test" she said as she slid into a chair opposite him.

He put the book down and observed her for a moment. "I take it that's a good thing."

"Yeah, it's pretty good" she said with a tentative smile. "I guess you were right about history."

"I'm seldom wrong, little witch" he said with a charming smile. "But I congratulate you."

"Thank you."

He leaned back in his seat a little. "Would your friends approve of you conversing with the big bad's younger brother?"

She shrugged a little. "Probably not. Damon came to talk to me yesterday."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, he apologized."

"How nice of him. Maybe there's some southern manners hidden in him somewhere after all."

"He said it was because of you."

Kol smiled a little. "Imagine that."

"Why did you do that?"

He narrowed his eyes a little. "I'm sure I had my reasons."

"But why do you even care. You do realize that we're all pretty much united in trying to kill your brother, right?"

"Yes yes, and we're all on the other side, trying to help him." He waved a hand dismissively, like it didn't matter that they were in fact standing on two opposites sides of a brewing war. "But I don't really see why that should stop me from liking you?"

"You… You like me?"

"Quite a bit, actually."

"Even with all the stinking judgement" she asked with narrowed eyes.

He leaned in over the table. "I find you extremely fascinating. And you're obviously very self-preserving or you wouldn't still be alive." At her raised eyebrow, he added as an afterthought: "Witches doesn't tend to last too long around my family."

"So you don't even find it a little distracting that we're actually trying to kill each other's friends and family?" She was beginning to suspect that he was trying to play mind tricks on her.

He smiled a little. "I don't really care. Nik's agenda is not mine, I neither care for werewolves, hybrids or your boring Petrova doppelganger friend."

"So why are you still here then?"

"Because my family is here. I'd think you'd understand that kind of reasoning."

Bonnie was about to reply when she noticed the book lying on the table between them. "Are you reading Twilight?"

"Unfortunately yes. It was actually quite hilarious at first, and it certainly made me understand why Nik has been acting the way he does lately, but now I just feel a little bit tacky. I hope you don't expect me to shine whenever the sun appears on the sky."

"I don't expect anything from you."

"Well, not yet anyway" he said and wiggled his brow in a way that reminded her of Damon. With a last smile, he got up and left her sitting at the table, staring at the empty chair.

* * *

When he knocked on her door later that evening (not that she was watching him approach from the window – she would never do something like that), she decided to finally clear the air and force some straight answers out of him.

"I forgot my book" he said with an easy smile as she opened the door.

"Are you sure you didn't leave it on purpose" she asked, arms crossed over her chest.

He made a face. "Guess you'll never know. Can I have it back, please? I'm just dying to find out if Rosalie will ever approve of Bella."

"She won't. Not in this book." It flew out of her mouth before she could stop herself and horrified, she slapped a hand over her mouth.

His smile grew wider. "Ah, so you read trashy vampire literature as well. You and Nik can form a club."

"I read them before I knew any of it was real."

He snorted. "None of that is real. For instance, I have very pretty _brown_ eyes regardless of my diet and I can't enter unless you should be so graceful as to invite me in."

"Then I guess you're stuck outside" she said with a small smile of her own. "Here's your book. Enjoy.

"Is that all I get?"

She looked at him confused. "What?"

"All I get is an "enjoy" for all my hard work and troubles. You know, that Damon Salvatore tried to take my head of with a desk chair!"

"Well, what _do_ you want" she asked, feeling slightly intrigued.

"How about you start by either inviting me inside or come out here and talk as an equal."

"We're not equals."

"No, but I'll try not to hold that against you." He took a step back, away from the door, in a silent invitation to follow him.

Hesitantly (and not at all sure why she was even doing this), she took a small step across her doorstep. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what" he asked.

"This! Following me, talking to me, _helping me_. I don't understand. Is this some kind of sick game to you? Is it because I'm a witch?"

"I can assure you, I care nothing for your little witchy powers." He made a face. "But I'll admit, I first came to see you because I was curious."

"So it's a game?"

"You misunderstand. Is it really so hard to believe I find your interesting all on your own merit?"

"Yes!"

"What a pity." He suddenly took a step closer, forcing her to back into the house wall. "You smell…" He took a deep breath, "so much better today!" He grabbed her hips firmly, but without bruising her skin and took another step closer to her, leaving almost no room between them.

She took a shallow breath, honestly not sure what to make of this situation. He really did have very nice brown eyes, she thought, and then all thought disappeared and her heart stopped for a moment as he slowly leaned in and kissed her.

* * *

**A/N: You like? You hate? You're still crying over the whole Stewart/Pattinson mess (or maybe laughing just a little bit, like me?). Want more? Then review and make me all warm and fuzzy on the inside.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Kol kissed with intent, Bonnie decided. It was almost overwhelming and she was sure her heart had stopped beating for a moment. And then it was over before she had even had time to fully register what had happened.

"Next time, little witch, you'll have to come to me."

She stood still for a moment, just staring at him with a confused look on her face. "What… What does that even mean?"

"It means I don't like doing all the work" he said with a smile as he swaggered down her driveway. "Thanks for the book" he called over his shoulder.

Bonnie wasn't sure how long she actually stood outside her front door, just staring, but her father looked rather concerned when he came home, asking her if she had hit her head in school. She managed to shake herself out of her reverie enough to get through another awkward family dinner with him and then barricade herself in her room.

* * *

It was times like these that really made Bonnie yearn to be just another normal, hormonal and neurotic high schooler. Then she could call her best friend and gossip about the hot new guy who had just kissed her with so much passion she was sure her toes had to be uncurled surgically. As it was, she was pretty sure Elena wouldn't exactly be elated by the news of Klaus' younger brother kissing her and making her feel things she definitely shouldn't be feeling for any of the Originals. Maybe Caroline would be more forgiving; she and Klaus were definitely walking around each other with a weird combination of murder and lust in their eyes.

With a sigh, Bonnie plopped down on her bed. Caroline had only ever admitted to finding Klaus somewhat attractive, in a "weird Third Reich sort of way", and she was still all aboard the "murder the Originals" train, which meant she probably wouldn't congratulate Bonnie on these newfound feelings either.

Bonnie suddenly felt sad she had no one else in her life. How did that even happen? She used to be a happy and outgoing person with lots of friends; she was a _cheerleader_ for god's sake. Now she had Elena and Caroline and more vampire problems than an Anne Rice novel.

* * *

She spent the next few days in a weird funk. Even Elena, who was by no means up for any "most attentive friend of the year" awards, had noticed and asked her about it a few times. Bonnie had just shrugged and blamed it on their current situation, which wasn't too far of a stretch, really. Elena then spent the next hour complaining about her Stefan/Damon drama, asking Bonnie for advice about how she was going to choose.

Bonnie made a face; it was definitely a difficult choice (seeing as choosing neither was apparently completely out of the question). Damon was a homicidal maniac who screwed everything up and had killed off a lot of Elena's social circle (including Jeremy and Alaric, although neither of those stuck). On the other hand there was Stefan, who was so evil he tried to overcompensate by being almost disgustingly good, but had gone off on the world's most epic blood-bender recently and was still more than just a little crazy.

"I don't know, Lena… Tough choice" Bonne said, quickly stuffing the entire sandwich into her mouth so she couldn't say anything more.

Elena sighed. "I'm so sorry Bonnie, I know I'm a horrible friend right now. I just don't know what to do."

Bonnie just smiled, hoping her ham sandwich wasn't showing through her teeth.

"What's been going on with you? I hope Kol hasn't been bothering you anymore? Caroline asked Klaus to tell him to stop stalking you."

Bonnie coughed violently suddenly, making Elena slap her a few times on the back with a concerned frown. "She did _what_?"

"Yeah, because it was freaking us all out and we know Klaus really wants to make a good impression on Caroline, so she asked him to stop Kol. He hasn't been following you around, right?"

"Right" Bonnie agreed, still smiling. Because he hadn't. There hadn't been even the slightest form of contact (she hadn't even seen him prowling around the town with the rest of his creepy family) since he had kissed her on her porch and told her the bold was in her court now.

"That's good. Hopefully Esther will just…"

"Kill all her kids" Bonnie asked.

"Well, it sounds way more horrible when you say it like that" Elena pouted. "I don't like it either, but…" She sighed. "I don't want Klaus around, I think Kol is just a bomb waiting to go off and Rebekah…"

"Urh" Caroline made a disgusted noise as she joined them. "I hate that blood-slut!"

"What did she do now" Elena asked with sympathy.

"She's trying to steal my cheer-squad!"

"The horror" Bonnie muttered with an eyeroll.

"It _is_" Caroline persisted. "Because this is how it starts; first she take away the things that matter…"

"Like being captain of the cheerleaders?" Bonnie and Elena exchanged amused looks; if Rebekah's worst transgression was overthrowing Caroline's cheer-dictatorship they should probably write her thank-you note.

"Next comes boyfriends" Caroline continued.

"She can have Jeremy" Bonnie said flatly. "Sorry" she muttered when she noticed Elena's face.

Elena picked apart her muffin. "It's fine. She's already had both Damon and Stefan."

"Like I was saying" Caroline said loudly. "And before we know it, she'll be ditching our bodies in some desolate ditch and taking over the rest of our lives. I doubt my mom would even notice the difference."

Elena put her hand on Caroline's. "Care, that's not true, you know that. And we're not gonna let Rebekah go that far."

"Can't you just ask Klaus to have her leave you alone" Bonnie asked.

Caroline sighed. "I did, actually…. It was really embarrassing. But apparently he doesn't feel like taking away from her fun, because she's been locked in a box since the twenties. Like that's even a reason!" She made a disgusted face. "_He's_ the one who put her there!"

"Guess it would be too much to hope for that they just move" Bonnie said.

"Elijah has talked a little about going to Rome…"

"And you know this _how_" Caroline asked with a raised eyebrow.

Elena blushed a little. "Well uh… We…" She looked at Bonnie. "He just mentioned it."

"Don't you think having two vampires fighting over you is enough" Bonnie asked.

"Bonnie, it's not like I like that Stefan and Damon are fighting about me. And Elijah…"

"If you say "is just a friend" I might just throw up" Caroline warned. "It's so obvious he likes you, Lena." Bonnie nodded in agreement.

"It's not like that."

"It never is" Caroline said dejectedly.

"What's going on with you and Klaus anyway" Bonnie asked suddenly. "Since when do you ask him favours?"

Caroline shrugged. "I don't really know. He can be _so_ nice sometimes, and say the most amazing things, but then…. He's _Klaus_! I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"

"Do you remember back when neither one us were being followed around by crazy vampires" Elena asked wistfully.

"Vaguely" Bonnie said with a frown, making them all laugh a little, even though the situation might justify crying more.

* * *

She decided that she was, as much as it was possible to do so in a town like Mystic Falls, going to stay away from Kol. He was evil, even if it was mostly evil-by-family. He was also good-looking, made her laugh and... No! She stopped her traitorous thoughts from going down that path again, it was just no use. Elena and Caroline would never forgive her if she willingly spent time with one of the Originals, even though _they_ both sort of did exactly that on a regular basis.

With a sigh she instead opened her World History book in a somewhat sad attempt to fend of anymore thoughts of Kol, because really, what were the chances of him even knowing Queen Elizabeth the first?

Her resolution lasted all of four days. She had been going over it about a million times and she had decided that as long as they didn't talk about anything relating Elena, Klaus, hybrids, doppeltgangers, Katherine werewolves, the Salvatores, his crazy sister, her absent mother, all her witchy relatives, vampires or twilight (she really needed to get him some better literature) they would be fine. So, in short, not a long list of forbidden topics. They could definitely do this! She had an overwhelming urge to call him instantly, to talk to him about anything, and she had already found her phone when she remembered he hadn't given her phone number. She wasn't even sure he had one. She stared at the phone, wondering what she was going to do. Going to the mansion was, of course, completely out of the question. There was another option, though…

"Miss Bennett, so nice to hear from you. I trust you are well?"

"Fine, thank you" she squeaked at Elijah's cool voice. "And you?" Her father was big on manners and even in a situation such as this, she couldn't forget them.

"I'm well" he said and she was almost sure she could hear amusement in his tone. That smug vampire-bastard. "What can I do for you?"

"I uh…. I need to talk to your brother" she breathed into the phone. She didn't exactly _need_ to talk to him, but she really really wanted to.

"Which one would that be" he asked. "I'm afraid Klaus is not home at the moment."

Bonnie only just managed to stop herself from snorting. Klaus was no doubt sitting in a tree outside Caroline's bedroom window or something equally creepy. "No, uh… Kol…"

"I see. I will fetch him for you."

"Thank you" she said hoarsely. She had half a mind to just hang up on hide under her bed.

"Hello little witch" Kol's voice greeted her on the other end of the line.

"I uh… I've been reading all this stuff about Queen Elizabeth the first and I got to thinking if maybe you knew her?" Bonnie stared at herself in her bedroom mirror. Had she honestly just said that? She shouldn't be allowed to use the phone, ever again!

"Did you now?"

"Yeah, well… All this stuff about her being the first queen and never marrying…"

"Made you think of me? Well, I'm certainly flattered, Bonnie."

She took a deep breath. "Just so you know, this is me, coming to you."

There was a moment's pause. "I know."

"Good... Just wanted you to know."

"She wasn't a virgin."

"What?"

"Elizabeth. She wasn't, just so you know."

"How do you know that?"

"Elijah."

* * *

Bonnie found herself smiling several times during the day and often for no apparent reason. Elena had asked her nicely what had brought on this change in demeanor and Caroline had outright asked if she had been sampling the witch brew a little too much, but Bonnie just smiled and gave them both a shrug. It was her secret.

She liked spending time with Kol. They never actually talked about it, but somehow it was just mutually agreed upon that they didn't broach any of the dangerous subjects. Instead they talked about each other and how the world was back then and today. And kissed! Lots of lots of kissing involved, which was probably why Bonnie was smiling so much. Despite everything that was going on, things were just easy between them. He had told about Elijah's very brief love affair with Queen Elizabeth and she had tried to explain the phenomena "Lady GaGa" to him (she had given up in the end, surrendering to the notion that perhaps there simply was no way to explain that).

Sometimes he would just be waiting for her to get home from school, sitting on the porch reading yet another horrible YA novel. She was suspecting that might be a serious problem for him. She had been teaching him about pop culture, introducing him to her cell phone and during one especially memorable afternoon she let him play around on his macbook, after he had told her Elijah had told him about something called "Wiklepedi" (she had laughed too much to correct him). He got upset, however, when he read an article about some weird pope called Benedict X who was listed as having sold his papacy when in fact he apparently lost it in a game of cards to Klaus. Bonnie didn't have the heart to tell him that this "Wiklepedi" (and its sister-site Wikipedia) was not exactly known to be the most trusted source of information.

She had also tried to teach him how to drive her car, but when he almost killed her P.E. teacher, she decided that she didn't have the acquired courage that the job so obviously called for. Immortality was definitely a must-have for anyone trying to teach him to drive.

* * *

One night they were lying on her bed, looking over books. She was still trying to pick up her grades in math and he was complaining about all the wrong things in her history books yet again, when she suddenly looked up at him. "Why did Klaus stake you?"

He kept staring intently at the book for a few seconds, like he was thinking about the answer. "Because he didn't like something I did."

"What did you do?"

His stare felt a little like laser. "I feel in love."

She felt like her lungs collapsed in her chest. "You… You fell in love?"

"Yes. Is that really so hard to believe" he asked.

"No, I…. I guess it's not." She paused for a minute. "Who was she?"

"She was a Romani gypsy. Her name was Mirela." He made a face. "She wasn't anyone, really. Just some gypsy girl I saw one day at a market in Poland and couldn't get out of my head."

"Oh... Did she know you were a vampire?"

He smiled a little. "Yes, the Romani Gypsies have always been very aware of us. Some of your magic comes from them. She knew what I was immediately, which of course meant she didn't want anything to do with me."

Bonnie somehow found that very hard to imagine. "What happened?"

"I spent a lot of time chasing after her, but her family forbade her from seeing me." He sighed a little. "Nik saw how tormented I was. I was ready to follow her anywhere, just to make her mine."

Bonnie stared at him with rapt attention. If Klaus was involved, this certainly wasn't going to be a happy love story.

"So he killed her family."

She widened her eyes at him. "He killed her entire family?"

"Yes. He thought it would make her love me, because her family was out of the way." He snorted. "Of course, it _didn't_ and I... I couldn't forgive Nik for his actions. I told my family I was leaving them, finally fed up with everything."

"So he staked you?"

"Yes."

Bonnie sat up. "How can you seriously help him do all this when he did that to you?"

Brown eyes met their equals. "Because I love my brother and I understand that what he did, he did out of love for me too."

"You call staking someone love?"

"If he had wanted me dead, I would be proper and truly dead now. Nik is so scared of being alone that he would rather risk our anger then have us actually leave him. And while I might not agree with his decision to leave me in a moldy old box to collect dust for the better part of a century, I sympathize with his need for love and to not be alone. Even if that means dragging your siblings around in coffins."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes a little. "I just don't understand why you would defend someone who has done so many terrible things."

"Has anyone ever told you you're a very judgmental person, little witch?" He smirked a little at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe…"

He moved closer, staring at her mouth. "Well, I'm afraid, Miss Bennett, that they were telling you the truth."

"I'm not judgmental" she rebuffed him.

"Maybe not to your friends, but I fear that there may be hidden a little bit Mr. Darcy in you somewhere."

"Does that mean you're Elizabeth?"

"No, I'm definitely Wickham" he said with a smile to match it.

She frowned at him but then started to laugh, shaking her head. "That doesn't make any sense. But I'm relived you at least read proper literature at some point in your life."

"Surely that was not a dig at the omnipotent Twilight franchise?"

"Never" she laughed, letting him kiss her.

* * *

They were gathered around the big oak table standing in the too grand Original mansion's living room, discussing ways to get rid of Vampiric. So far, Stefan had suggested relocating, Rebekah had wondered out loud why there were even talking about this, Elijah had wanted to involve a lot of witches and Klaus and Damon had, strangely enough, agreed upon the need for Vampiric to die. Now they were hashing out the finer points of that plan.

"Well, we could always kill the doppelganger. Problem solved" Rebekah smirked evilly.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen" Damon stated boldly.

"Maybe we could lock him up" Caroline suggested. "Like in the church with old those old vampires."

"Watch who you call old" Rebekah sneered.

"Unless Mr. Saltzman decides to call a truce until the next great nature phenomenon happen, I don't think that's going to work either" Elijah shot down, looking at Klaus.

"So we either kill or desiccate him" Klaus said with a sigh.

"And how do we do that, exactly" Stefan asked pointedly. "We're not strong enough, he has the whole town turned on us…."

"Bonnie will do it" Damon interrupted. "Won't you, little witch?"

"Don't call me that" Bonnie said sourly. "I can't. The dead witches won't help me anymore."

"Oh sure they will, love" Klaus said with a smirk. "You'll just have to persuade them a little."

"It's not like that" Bonnie argued. "They think Alaric is right, they want you all to die!" Her eyes darted quickly to Kol, who had yet to interfere in the talk.

"So do it yourself" Damon said.

"That's impossible" Caroline said. "Bonnie isn't strong enough, it'll kill her!"

"So" Damon asked. "I've already offered to write her a killer eulogy. It'll be worth her while!"

"How, exactly" Bonnie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Because you'll be saving all your friends" Klaus said, clearly agreeing with Damon now. Bonnie sighed; of course the first thing those two would ever agree upon would be a suicide mission for her!

"No." All eyes turned to look at Kol, who had finally spoken up.

"Excuse me" Klaus said with both eyebrows raised.

"No. Bonnie is not sacrificing herself for something you're too scared to do."

For a moment they were all silent as Klaus and Kol stared each other down. Then Klaus lips curled a little, turning into an ugly smile. "Why, little brother, is there something you would like to share with the rest of us?"

Kol met Klaus' penetrating stare head on. "You created this mess, Nik. Don't expect others to clean up after you. Again!"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Klaus was still smiling, but his tone was cold.

"Why did mother hate us so much she felt she had to create a monster to kill us all?"

Rebekah and Elijah were watching their siblings with rapt attention and even Damon was being quiet for once.

Bonnie felt like she should say something, _anything_, to smooth over the situation. "Maybe if we could find some more witches…"

"No" Kol repeated. "No, we're not doing that, it's too dangerous. We're six against one, we should be able to handle one undead history teacher!"

"We're not doing _that_" Klaus said in a smooth tone.

"So typical Nik, always wanting others to do his dirty work" Kol taunted.

"Kol" Elijah warned. "We're not alone!" He looked at Damon, Stefan and Caroline, sitting together at one side of the table (Bonnie was helplessly sitting between Elijah and Caroline).

"No, let's get everything out in the open now" Klaus said. "Do you have a problem with my way of conduct?"

Bonnie snorted loudly at that, too late in realizing it would draw everyone's attention to her.

"Would you like to say something" Elijah asked pointedly.

"No" she said hoarsely. "I just…" She shrugged a little. "Because of what happened to Esther:…" She trailed off when she noticed the murderous glare in Klaus' eyes.

"What" Kol questioned, his eyes almost aflame all of a sudden.

"Nothing" Rebekah quickly said. Her eyes kept flickering between her brothers. "Maybe we should talk about this some other time?"

"Yes, I think that would be more appropriate" Elijah hastily added and got up. "Damon, Stefan, Miss Forbes, let me es…"

"What happened with mother" Kol asked tersely, interrupting Elijah.

"Mikael killed her" Klaus said, but his eyes flickered to the floor, an immediately tell.

"Are you sure about that?" Kol looked at his siblings. Elijah refused to meet his eyes and Klaus just stared at him, almost like he was daring Kol to contradict him.

"It was Nik" Rebekah sobbed quietly. "He killed our mother!" Tears were running down her cheeks and Bonnie extended her sympathy a little, because despite how horrible she actually was, no one should have to tell one brother about the other's deceit.

Suddenly Kol lunged across the room, attacking Klaus with such momentum that they both crashed into the wall behind Klaus. They all stood still for a moment, as Klaus and Kol trashed about, then Elijah sprang into action, trying to break it up, only to get thrown across the room by Klaus. Out of nowhere, it seemed, Kol had produced a lit candlestick the he smashed into Klaus' face, making the latter howl with pain, trying to throw Kol off. Stefan broke in as Kol tried to light Klaus on fire, trying to grab Kol from behind. Klaus took the opportunity to put some distance between himself and Kol, instead turning his attention to Bonnie, who was half-hiding behind Rebekah and Caroline.

"You" he snarled with narrowed eyes.

"And that's our cue" Damon said next to her, forcing her behind him as well.

Elijah had come around and now joined the fight as well, trying to contain Kol with Stefan, while both Rebekah and Caroline tried to stop Klaus. Bonnie managed to see Stefan and Elijah force a kicking and screaming Kol down onto the floor in a joined effort, as Rebekah screamed something at Klaus, and then Damon pushed her out of the room, through the hallway and out into the street. She stared at him confused, as he grabbed her arm and started to almost frock-march her down the street.

"What are you doing?"

"Walking you home" Damon said coldly, not letting go of her arm.

"What just happened?"

"You just destroyed our best hope of getting rid of Alaric. Happy?"

* * *

That night, Bonnie sat at home nursing yet another Damon-induced bruise on her body, wondering how on earth everything had deteriorated so rapidly. Obviously Kol had been suspicious of Klaus, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a big deal out of it, but she had always just thought he knew. That Rebekah or Elijah or maybe even Esther herself had told him! She felt so bad for him it was an almost palpable pain in her chest.

She made a cup of tea and tried to make sense of the day's events. One thing became clear before anything else: Damon had saved her from a possibly extremely precarious situation by forcing her away from the fight and walking her home. She had no idea what this would mean for her or their continued effort to make any headway with Klaus about the whole doppelganger/hybrid issue and killing Vampiric. Bonnie was extremely happy that Elena and Jeremy had not been invited to this meeting. She tried to avoid thinking about what this would mean for her and Kol.

* * *

When she came home from school the following Wednesday, three days after what could possible be described as the world's worst meeting between frenemies, he was sitting on her porch, reading the Hunger Games. Oddly fitting, somehow, she thought, as she joined him.

"How are you?"

"I find myself mystified by this book" he said, not looking at her. "This Peeta guy…"

Bonnie put her hand over the book, forcing him to turn his attention. "I'm so sorry, Kol."

"I don't need your pity" he said coldly.

"I just… I was so sure Rebekah would have told you."

"She didn't want to hurt my feelings" he spat in a mocking tone. "And Elijah feared my volatile temper."

Bonnie decided not to point out how he did try to set his brother on fire when he found out. "Are you going to be okay?"

"No… But I will be once I leave this hellish place." He finally looked up at her.

"You're leaving?"

"Yes! And I want you to come with me."

"Kol… I can't…"

"Why not? What is holding you back, exactly? Surely not your father…"

"I have friends here, Kol, my whole life is here!"

He throw back his head in reproachful laugh. "Who, Elena? Who has the personality of an empty cardboard box and would gladly make you sacrifice your life over and over again just so she could continue her insipid no sex three-way with Damon and Stefan Salvatore? Or Caroline, who is so blonde she makes Rebekah seem insightful. Jeremy, your ex-boyfriend, who dumped you for the ghost of his vampire girlfriend?"

"That's not fair" Bonnie whispered, staring at her hands. "I can't just leave, I have a responsibility!"

"To yourself! You have a responsibility to yourself! No one else matters" Kol urged.

"It just doesn't work like that!" In truth, Bonnie had often wondered what it would be like to just leave and never look back, but she knew it wasn't possible.

"So, that's it?"

"You don't have to leave either" Bonnie said. "I want you to stay!"

"Out of the question!" He stood up suddenly. "Goodbye Bonnie."

She sat on the porch staring after him as he walked down the street, not sure if she should run after him and beg him to take her with him or go inside and call Elena and Caroline. When she finally made her decision, he was already gone.

* * *

Bonnie wasn't sure when her life had derailed to the point that every waking moment felt like a huge train crash. But somehow, it had and it could hurt so much she almost wanted her heart to stop beating, just for a moment to give her a break.

She had never felt less in control then when they tried to finally put an end to Klaus' reign of horror, only to have it blow up so spectacular in their faces. Everything that could have gone wrong had. Klaus hadn't been desiccated, but a furious Rebekah was convinced her brother was dead and had lashed out the only way she knew how to: she had found Elena and retaliated. A sobbing Caroline had called Bonnie, telling her about the crash and that Stefan had brought Elena to the hospitable. Bonnie wasn't sure she had ever been that angry before in her entire life.

"We're still connected" she breathed into the phone.

"So? Bonnie, this is Elena…"

"Caroline, I need you to find Rebekah!"

"What?"

"Find Rebekah, make contact! I'll do the rest!"

There had been silence on the line for a moment, then: "Bonnie, we…" Caroline hiccupped slightly. "We have to go to the hospitable!"

"It won't matter, Caroline, don't you understand? We have to make sure Rebekah can never do something like this again!"

"O-okay" Caroline agreed shakily.

Bonnie had a plan! Matt was alive, she knew, and still at the hospitable. She needed to stop a heart in order to desiccate Rebekah. It was all coming together in her head.

She sneaked into his room at the hospitable, trying to push any thought of Elena out her head. She just needed to do this, now! Matt was still unconscious but he would be fine, there were people here to make him better when she was done. She got started and waited for Caroline to make the connection, and then it came and she started chanting, making sure to say all the words properly. Nothing could go wrong, this had to be done!

Matt's heart stopped and she stepped away immediately, slipping out of the room as two nurses and a doctor came running. She found her phone and dialled Caroline's number.

"She's down" Caroline sighed into the phone. "Matt?"

"They're working on him now. Where are you?"

"She was lurking around the boarding house."

"Is anyone with you?"

"No, it's just be and the shrivelled Barbie" Caroline said.

"I'll be there soon, just stay there."

"Like I would go anywhere with her."

* * *

Bonnie and Caroline stared at the dried up body of Rebekah. "We should bury her" Caroline suggested.

"Too risky. We need to make sure she won't be found for at least a hundred years" Bonnie said.

"Bonnie" Caroline whispered. "Elena…"

"Don't!" Bonnie hissed. She couldn't stand to even think about her best friend lying cold and alone somewhere in the hospitable.

Caroline closed her eyes, letting tears fall down her cheeks. "So what do we do, drive until we hit the sea."

"Something like that" Bonnie said. "We should dagger her too, just to be safe!"

Caroline nodded slowly. "You still have one of them?"

"Yes" Bonnie said, producing the dagger they had removed from Elijah's chest. She closed her eyes for a moment, then thrust the dagger into Rebekah's chest with a sickening crunch. "We can…"

"What have you done?"

Both girls turned around at the strangled voice coming from behind them. "Kol?"

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"She killed Elena" Bonnie said.

"Elena deserved to die, she should have died years ago" he sneered at her, still staring at the desiccated form of his sister. "How could you do this?"

"Because Rebekah deserves it" Bonnie defended angrily. Why couldn't he understand that they had to get rid of Rebekah and as long as all the bloodlines were all muddled together, this was the only way. "She had to be taken out!"

"By you?" His voice was dangerously soft.

"It was the only way!"

Before either of the girls could blink, Kol had moved and grabbed Bonnie by her throat, squeezing so hard white spots appeared before her eyes. "I loved you" he hissed, slamming her hard against the wall.

Caroline tried to make him stop, but he hit her so hard that she collapsed to the ground.

"I loved you" he added with an almost sob, squeezing harder, "and you betrayed me!"

"Kol" she wheezed, clawing futilely at the hand strangling the life out of her.

He looked away from her again, letting go a bit. "I did everything for you and this..:" He sobbed again. "_This_ is how you repay me? By killing my family, plotting against us?"

"It had to be done" she squeaked.

What's going on?" Jeremy's voice, laced with confusion and concern, interrupted them.

Kol let go instantly and was beside Jeremy in a second.

"Take out the dagger!"

"No" Bonnie said, leaning against the wall in a desperate attempt to catch her breath.

"Do it or poor Jeremy here dies!"

"Kol, please don't" she begged feebly.

"Shut up" he yelled angrily. "Don't beg for my emotions when you obviously have none yourself! Do it _now_ or I'll snap his head and you'll be next!"

She closed her eyes briefly, feeling warm tears make their way down her cheeks. She couldn't even remember the last time she had cried, really cried! She slid down the wall to her knees and crawled over to where Rebekah was laying. There was no point in stalling this and she pulled out the dagger without any real effort.

"I had to do it" she whispered, not looking at him.

"Then I'm sure you'll understand my reasoning" he growled, pushing Jeremy over, biting him in the arm and pushing the open wound into Rebekah's mouth.

"You love me" she whispered in a last desperate attempt to make him stop.

He met her eyes as he pushed Jeremy out of the way like he was a useless old newspaper. "I _loved _you" he corrected, picking up his sister and disappearing. "There's nothing left for me to love now."

Her phone vibrated and with shaky hands she fished it out of her pocket, staring at the text from Stefan. Elena was awake. Matt was dead.

* * *

**A/N: You guys! Did you know there's something out there, in the world (I swear, I'm not joking) called "real life", where you can't just laze around on your couch all day, writing silly little stories? It's true! And let me just tell you; real life is kicking my ass these days! Long story short: I was recently very lucky to get a position as an intern in this cool organization and I was so happy, because pfht, I could totally do that, train for a marathon (knee's all better again), spend time with my bf and friends, play with the dog and write this story. NOT!**

**I'm so sorry for the lack of updates - I promise I'll try to do better in the future, but I can't guarantee regular updates. Please forgive me! I've sent the boyfriend out of the house for a few days, my friends are studying for exams, the dog is sleeping under the couch and no marathon training today, so I thought you guys deserved a chapter because HOLY MOLY you rock! I was completely blown away by your amazing, lovely, funny, sweet and great response. Keep it up and I'll promise to do the same, deal? This is the last flashback chapter, although there'll probably be some more flashbacks here and there later on. I don't really like this chapter, but I hope you'll appreciate the effort nonetheless (and I promise there will be many many more - and better - Kol and Bonnie moments in the future).**

**Next chapter I think both Elijah and Damon will make an appearance. Review and let me know how you feel about that. Should Elijah bring Elena with him? Should Damon wear a really silly hat? Let me know what you think, because I seriously looooove all your reviews, comments and ideas. Also, I haven't replied directly to any replies (I'm shy), but how about if you leave a signed review, then I'll reply? That ok?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Bonnie had woken up early in the morning when the front door slammed. She had stayed still for a few moments, staring at the dark ceiling. It was a strange feeling, lying in Kol's bed after all that had happened.

She had asked him if he really, _really_, wanted to talk about what had happened between them, maybe because she really needed to talk about it too, but he had just stared at her with something akin to indifference on his face. He had showed her to the bedroom and told her to get some sleep and she had obliged. There was simply no argument left in her.

But now, as she was lying in his bed, it all came crashing back over her like some horrible emotional tsunami she couldn't escape. She would have preferred for him to yell at her, to attack her, scream at her, hate her, than for him to just be indifferent. Despite what she might have told herself when she left Mystic Falls, she wasn't ready for Kol to be indifferent to her.

She got out of the bed when her thoughts became too much and it felt like the sheets were about to strangle her. There was nothing edible (at least not edible by her standards) in the kitchen and she couldn't find any towels, so a shower wasn't really an option either. There was no TV and all Kol's books were either dated before the turn of the last century or horrible Young Adults novels and Bonnie already felt like she lived in one of those most of the time.

She had five missed calls from Caroline (no surprise there) and a few from Sara and Lissie. She sighed and dialled Caroline's number.

"Where are you?"

"Care, please… Indoor voice" Bonnie muttered, holding the phone from her ear.

"Where are you?"

"At Kol's."

"And where is that, exactly? Because I'm freaking out here, imaging you tied up in a cave somewhere…"

"Wrong brother" Bonnie said. "And there are no caves in Seattle." She sighed. "I'm fine, Care."

"Why did you leave?" The hurt in her tone was clear.

"I just… I'm sorry, I…"

"Bonnie… I would never do anything to you" Caroline whispered over the phone.

"I know!"

"And Kol is _not_ trustworthy, he's…."

"Please just stop" Bonnie asked. "I can't explain it, but I just needed to get away and Kol… I trust him too."

"Where are you?"

"I told you…"

"No, I know you're at Kol's but I don't know where that is."

"Oh… I thought Klaus knew."

"Bonnie, in case you haven't noticed, Klaus and Kol aren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment."

"I didn't think it was that bad."

"Oh it is" Caroline sighed. "Klaus is like super mad about Kol not contacting him and Kol is refusing to tell him where Rebekah is."

"Oh…" That sounded pretty immature to Bonnie and she decided she was just going to stay out of it.

"Yeah, well…. How are you?"

"Okay, I guess. I feel guilty, though. I didn't even really know Alicia."

"Bon, you can't think like that. I know it's hard, but…"

"Have Klaus figured something out" Bonnie interrupted. She didn't want to talk about her feelings right now.

"Well, he left pretty early. And he wasn't happy about the fact that you were gone either. He talked a little about calling Elijah."

"Why?"

"Strength in numbers, I guess? I don't know. He talked really fast and it was pretty early." There was a pause on the line. "You want me to come over?"

Bonnie pushed herself up on the counter in the kitchen and fiddled a little with an extremely expensive-looking coffee machine. Kol would be furious about having Caroline in his home. "Sure, I'll text you the address."

* * *

Caroline had brought a pair of spare jeans with her, for which Bonnie was extremely grateful, and chocolate croissants from Starbucks. They ate and Caroline ranted about Kol being a "fanged freak" for not even owning a TV, while Bonnie just nodded once in a while and sucked the chocolate of her fingers.

"But of course he has a docking station for an iPod! I mean, how weird is that?"

Bonnie shrugged, checking the bag again to make sure there really were no more croissants left. "He likes music."

"Why do you even defend him? He was horrible to you!"

"I think I was pretty horrible to him too. And Klaus _did_ have Tyler bite you!"

"Yes well…" Caroline made a sour face. "We've moved past that."

"Good for you."

"Where is he anyway?"

Bonnie shrugged again. "He left this morning."

"Caroline shook her head. "You have seriously questionable taste in men, Bonnie Bennett."

"Hey pot, have you looked in the mirror lately" Bonnie said with a smile.

"Alright fine… We both have horrible taste in men. Not as bad as Elena, though. I mean, Damon? Urh."

"I think you're forgetting something, Caroline" Bonnie pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I have effectively blocked out that part of my life. It was that or a lobotomy!"

"Very wise. So, what do you want to do?"

Caroline looked around the apartment and made a face. "I'm thinking about going through all his stuff while we listen to really loud music!"

Bonnie sighed. "Why not?"

* * *

They were half way through 'Girls just want to have fun', jumping around in the couch while wearing various parts of a police uniform Caroline had found in the closet in the bedroom. Bonnie had gone through every cupboard in the kitchen and emptied the fridge for anything that didn't look like a part of Kol's natural diet.

Dancing around with Caroline, not caring about anything for a time and just enjoying herself, was definitely needed for Bonnie. She was singing along with Caroline on the chorus (she hoped Kol wasn't good friends with his neighbours) when the door opened.

Bonnie and Caroline seemed to deflate on spot and suddenly the music felt way too loud in Bonnie's ears, Cindy Lauper's voice was shrill and made her head hurt. Caroline scrambled over to the docking stating, almost slamming the pink iPod off.

"Having fun" Kol asked with a pointedly raised eyebrow. Both girls looked at each other, neither sure what the appropriate answer was. "I brought some guests." He stepped inside the apartment, revealing Klaus behind him, with something slung over his shoulder. Without much concern, Klaus dropped the lifeless form of Damon Salvatore to the floor.

Kol closed the door behind them, walking to the kitchen like there wasn't an unconscious vampire lying in his hallway. "Drink?"

"B positive, please" Klaus called, also ignoring Damon's lump body.

Kol handed his brother a cup and then walked over to Caroline, grabbing the hat she was wearing. "I'll be needing that later, thank you."

She scowled at him and then turned to Klaus. "So this was why you left before dawn?"

Klaus smiled a little. "Missed me, love?"

"You know I hate getting up early" Caroline pouted, but there was something warm in her voice. It made Bonnie want to gag.

"I see you've been busy" Kol noted, looking around at the mess they had made.

Suddenly, dancing around with Caroline in parts of Kol's police uniform didn't feel like the best idea. She gingerly took of the tie, handing it to him. "Sorry."

"Keep it, it looks better on you anyway" he muttered. He handed her a bag in return. "I picked up some things for you."

She took the bag and opened it. "You went through my underwear?"

"Nothing I haven't seen before" he mused, sitting down on the couch. He turned to look at his brother and Caroline, who were kissing. "Please, make yourself at home."

"Kol, don't be prude, it doesn't become you" Klaus said.

"Are we all just ignoring the Damon-shaped elephant in the room" Bonnie asked, glancing at the still form. She would have been happy to never see him again.

"For the time being, yes" Klaus said, also sitting down. "No point asking a dead person questions."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Why is he even here?"

"Because we need to know what happened the night Elena died. He" Klaus indicated his head towards Damon, "was with Mr Saltzman at the time."

"So what's the plan, beat it out of him" Bonnie asked.

"Something like that" Kol said from the couch. He was flipping through a magazine. "Maybe you should make yourself disappear for a while."

Bonnie knew she should question this, and she certainly didn't condone whatever Kol and Klaus had planned, but defending Damon wasn't really an option either. She looked at Caroline.

"Uh, I guess we could go see the Space Needle or something" she said with a shrug.

"Good idea, love" Klaus said with a smile. "Of you go. Have fun."

"I don't have a jacket" Bonnie whispered to Caroline, as they put on their shoes. She kept throwing guilty sideways glances at Damon. He _had_ saved her all those years ago, when Kol and Klaus had gotten into a fight and Klaus had looked like he wanted to rip her head right off. She probably should say _something_ at least, just to make sure they didn't actually torture him too much.

Kol appeared beside her a moment later. "Here." He handed her a large jacket that would definitely keep her warm.

"Thanks" she muttered, staring at the place their hands touched.

"Don't be back for a couple of hours" he warned and they slipped out of the door, careful not to step on Damon.

* * *

"So, are you like back together or what?"

"What?" Bonnie stared at her friend.

"It's so obvious…. The lingering stares, the small touches…"

"I know we're currently in Seattle" Bonnie interrupted, "but this isn't an episode of Grey's Anatomy."

"So no hot elevator sex?"

"Gross, Care!"

"Please, like you weren't all hot and heavy back then."

"It's different now."

"Yeah, it's a lot more Twilight now."

"Don't say that! You know I hate it when you bring up that stupid book!"

Caroline stopped. "Seriously, Bonnie. What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything."

"Well, maybe that's the problem? I just don't want you to get hurt again!"

Bonnie shook her head. "I can't explain it, Care. I just trust Kol. He won't hurt me."

Caroline sighed and then put on her old superior-Caroline face. "Fine, if you're sure you know what you're doing."

"Not even by a long shot! But it'll be okay, I just know it."

"Fine, trust your witchy instincts."

"You know, that's pretty insulting."

"It's been that kinda day" Caroline muttered. "You should totally go out with that Brent again."

"I don't know. It might be a bit weird having to explain I never called him back because my roommate got staked and my vampire ex-boyfriend showed up the clean up the mess."

Caroline made a face. "Maybe just tell him you've been sick?"

"I'll think about it. I don't want to drag anymore people into this mess than I have too."

"Yeah… You think Elijah is coming?"

"No idea. Maybe he just wants to stay away from this" Bonnie mused. She wouldn't blame him if that were the case.

"You do know that if he _does_ show up, he'll most likely bring Elena as well."

"Yeah, I thought as much. But my life is already pretty much horribly awkward, so why not."

"That's the spirit" Caroline smiled. "Let's get some coffee."

* * *

Bonnie had dropped Caroline off at the hotel, declining to come in with her. She wanted to walk through the city a little while and act like she was just another normal person on her way. The borrowed jacket made it hard to pretend, however, as it was so obviously a borrowed one and smelled faintly of it's owner. It made her feel wistful and before she knew it, she was standing outside the apartment complex where Kol lived. Her heart had apparently not caught the memo about her being totally over Kol.

"Hey, I figured I might as well just come back here" she called as she opened the door.

"Well hello there, little witch" Damon Salvatore greeted her with a cruel smile on his lips.

* * *

**A/N: Yay an update, although a short one - the next will be much longer! Thanks for your amazing reviews, they definitely make me want to write more. In fact - if you all review, I might just post a little something for you before next week. Hint hint, nudge nudge, say no more.  
As always, I love you all for spending time on this silly little thing and if you have any ideas, questions, comments, anything, about the story or me or I don't know, why some people put empty milk cartons back in the fridge (that really pisses me off, btw), I'll be more than happy to answer it to the best of my abilities. Much love to all of you, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  
Anne**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"You look like hell" Bonnie noted with her arms crossed.

"And you've put on a couple of pounds…. I wasn't going to mention it" Damon said with a sneer.

Klaus hit the back of Damon's head. "Language, please. We're guests."

"You tie up all your guests" Damon quipped, earning him another hard slap.

"Can I borrow a computer" Bonnie asked, trying to ignore Damon. She took a small step back, figuring it would be best to stay at a healthy distance from him, even if he was tied to a chair.

"Where's Caroline?"

"Really, Vampire Barbie is here too? What, are you two like a thing now" Damon asked with a smirk. "That's so _cute_." He turned to look at Bonnie again. "And you're still clinging onto the ridiculous baby brother."

Kol placed a hand at the back of Damon's neck and it wasn't before Bonnie noticed his eyes were almost popping out of his skull she realized exactly how much pressure Kol was using. She could easily remember being on the receiving end of a pressure like that.

"In the kitchen" Kol said.

She nodded and hurried past Damon, trying not to make eye contact. He really did look horrible and she could only imagine what Kol and Damon had been doing to him while she had been gone.

"Now, Mr. Salvadore" she could hear Klaus drawl on. "Let's try this one more time: would you mind telling us what exactly happened to Mr. Saltzman upon his rather timely death."

"Yes" Damon sneered. Bonnie guessed it wasn't the first time they had been given that answer. Or the tenth. She just shook her head and opened Kol's laptop. She would have to go back and get her own soon. Or maybe the police had it? She would have to ask Kol about that, she figured. She quickly typed out an email to the dorm-administrator, asking for a new place to stay. Living with her sort of ex-vampirefriend (or whatever Kol classified as), who brought home other vampires from her past and let Klaus inside the perimeter, was just not going to work for her. She supposed she could crash at Sara's or Lissie's, but she didn't want to bring her problems to their door. She looked up to see Kol leaning against the door frame, staring at her, as she closed the laptop.

"Do you know if I can go back to the dorm to get my things?"

"It'll be a couple of days before the police closes it as a crime scene" he told her.

"Oh…"

He sighed, pushing himself upright. "What's wrong?"

"Is Damon staying here?"

"Unfortunately he has to, for the time being."

"How did you even find him?"

"Oh it really wasn't that hard at all. A call to Elijah, inviting him and Elena to join me for dinner in Seattle and there was Damon, waiting eagerly like the good little love-sick puppy that he is."

She frowned a little. That was just so _sad._ "That's pretty pathetic."

"I heard that" Damon grunted from the hallway.

"Meant you to" Bonnie called back. "Is Elijah and Elena coming?"

Kol shrugged, like it didn't matter. "We'll squeeze the necessary information out of Mr Salvatore eventually."

"How do you know that?"

"Because we always do" he said with a small smile. "Did you have fun today?"

"I wish you wouldn't say things like that!"

"Asking you about your day?"

"Insinuating how you're going to torture someone! You make yourself sound like such a…"

"A what, Bonnie" he asked, having now given up all pretences of this being just a pleasant conversation. "A vampire? Someone who doesn't care if others' feelings are hurt, what exactly?"

"A monster" she said, meeting his glare. "You're not Klaus!"

"No, I'm so much more worse! I apologize if I gave you the impression that I was a harmless plaything when you were in high school…"

"Please stop…"

"But this is who I am, and have always been. Even before my dearly departed mother gave me fangs."

"That's not true" she countered.

"Love" he said with a demeaning smile. "Really, how would you know? You knew me for maybe a fraction of my entire lifespan and you saw what I wanted you to see."

Bonnie couldn't recall if she had ever slapped anyone before in her life. Sure, she had wanted to many times and there had been the occasional "setting Damon on fire" incident, but she was pretty sure she had never been flustered enough to actually slap anyone before. But now she had slapped Kol.

He hung his head a little to hide the smirk on his lips, like he couldn't believe she had just done that.

"I'm sorry" she whispered, staring at her hands. They were shaking and the right hand was stinging after the impact with Kol's rock hard cheek.

"You're such a pushover" he said, still smiling a little.

She felt the sudden impulse to slap him again, but her hand was still stinging terribly.

"Ah, a lover's quarrel. How quaint" Klaus said from the doorway.

"I think you should leave now, brother" Kol remarked without turning around to look Klaus.

Klaus smirked a little. "Alright. Call me if you get something out of Mr. Salvatore."

"I think I should go too" Bonnie said, pulling herself out of her reverie. She was contemplating how best to storm out of the apartment when her phone started to ring. She answered before she could check the caller id. "Yes?"

"Uh, Bonnie?"

"Who is this?"

"It's Brent. Remember, the guy lurking around in parks, waiting for pretty girls to trip on their runs. I also took you out for coffee the other day."

"Oh right… Yeah, sure" she said, trying to hide her embarrassment with a small laugh. It came out horribly shrill.

"You okay, you sound a little weird?"

"No, yeah I'm fine" she blabbered. She gave Kol a sideways glance. "Uh, so uh… What's up?"

"Well, this is me officially charging into stalker-territory."

"What?"

"You never called after we had coffee, so I figured I'd try my luck."

Bonnie was acutely aware that both Kol and Klaus was staring intently at her, and Damon was no doubt listening in from the hall. She turned around so she wouldn't have to face Kol's penetrating stare. "Right. I'm sorry about that, it's been a crazy few days."

"Yeah… Did you hear that someone got murdered on campus? That's pretty crazy right?"

"Uh actually… That was my roommate."

"Oh. Wow! I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

"Yeah it was just pretty horrible to find her like that."

"I can imagine! Do you know who did it?"

"No idea" Bonnie replied honestly.

"So, where are you staying now?"

Bonnie glanced over her shoulder. "With a uh… friend…"

"Okay, I guess that's probably for the best, right? Not being alone. You never know what kind of freaks are roaming the night."

"You got that right" she muttered.

"So I actually wanted to ask you to this Halloween party my dorm is hosting next week."

Bonnie was just about to say no when she remembered her promise to Caroline. She really didn't want to go to a party right now, but she also really didn't want to argue with Caroline about why she had turned down an invitation to a Halloween party (no doubt Caroline had already picked out her own outfit, as well as Bonnie's, probably Klaus' also and perhaps something for both Kol and Damon, just in case).

"It's gonna be awesome" Brent promised over the phone.

"Next week?"

"Next friday. And, because you are a friend, it's free of charge."

"Well, I actually have a friend who's visiting and really wanted to come to a Halloween party." Bonnie made a face. "And her boyfriend probably wants to come too."

"Well of course. Who says no to a college Halloween party" Klaus remarked in the background.

"I'm sure we can figure it out. As long as you come" Brent said.

"Sure" she agreed with a sigh. "That sounds great. Maybe a little partying will do me good."

"Great! I'll text you the details when we get nearer the date, ok?"

"That's fine. I guess I'll see you then."

"Yeah, can't wait. It's gonna be…"

"Awesome, yeah I know" Bonnie replied. "Bye." She didn't want to turn around and face Kol and Klaus.

"Party on" Klaus said in a horrible impression of American cheerleader circa Clueless.

"Awesome" Kol drawled.

Bonnie turned around slowly, trying to force her blushing cheeks to cool down a little. "You guys suck!"

Kol and Klaus shared a look. "So true" Kol said with a smirk.

"Weren't you leaving" Bonnie asked with a frown.

"Yes. Have to get ready for this _awesome_ party" Klaus said with wink and then he was gone.

"I think I'm going too" Bonnie said, turning off her phone. She didn't need anymore embarrassing calls right now.

"Take me with you" Damon yelled from the hallway, forcing Bonnie to close her eyes and count to ten.

Kol looked equally annoyed. "You know, I do admire Elena for having the patience to put up with him" he said with a tight expression, walking into the hallway, Bonnie trailing after him.

"Alright Mr Salvatore" Kol said, gripping the chair Damon was sitting on. "Until we can reach a settlement, I think you should have a timeout!" He started to drag the chair towards a closet.

"What are you doing" both Bonnie and Damon demanded, although Damon sounded a lot more angry and Bonnie had to hide her amusement as Kol opened the closet door and pushed Damon inside, still tied to the chair.

"You be good now" Kol chastised and closed the door.

Bonnie looked at him in wonder. "You're just going to leave him there?" She followed him into the livingroom, away from the Damon-in-the-closet.

"Not for ever, obviously. But I have to be at work soon and I can't just have him sitting around in my apartment."

"Of course not" Bonnie muttered. "Because _that_ would be weird. So what do we do now?"

"Now…" He sighed. "Now we decide what to do with you."

"I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt that, Bonnie, but this might be more than any of us can handle on our own. If this is just Mr. Saltzman acting on his own, I think we should consider ourselves fortunate."

"What do you mean "just" Alaric? Don't you think he's enough?"

He made a face. "I'd be very surprised if Mr. Saltzman was working alone back in Mystic Falls."

She gaped at him. She hadn't even considered a scenario like that. "You think…" She swallowed heavily. "You think there was… More?"

"Not like him, no… But think about it for a minute; Mr. Saltzman alerted the counsel, the medical board… It's nonsensical to believe he didn't contact other people, witches, hunters, maybe even vampire-hostile werewolves."

"So, they could be out there, right now? Waiting for me?"

"Quite possible, yes."

Bonnie felt her legs give away under her. Suddenly, the thought of Alaric lying under her bed back in the dorm, waiting for her to come home, didn't sound so scary anymore. The thought of other witches, vampire hunters and werewolves banding together to kill her… _That_ was scary! "What am I supposed to do? I have a life, I have to go to school, I have to…" She could hear her voice staring to rise into notes only dogs would be able to hear (which made her think of werewolves, which were sort of dogs, and that her nearing panic attack would maybe only bring them closer because they could hear her going crazy).

"Have to go to an _awesome_ party?" He was smirking at her again.

"Stop! You have no right to judge me!"

"No, you're the only one allowed to judge. I forgot!" They were almost yelling at each other now.

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

"Just take a look around! Bloody hell, woman! Have you even considered that maybe one of your awesome little college friends is working with Mr. Saltzman? Or is the killer?"

She hadn't! She had been so sure that she had moved away from all that and started a new chapter in her life. It suddenly felt like all the air had left her body.

He narrowed his eyes a little. "How did you meet Brent?"

"In the park, he helped me after I twisted my ankle."

"And he just happened to be there" Kol questioned. "And surely there's girlfriends too? How did you meet them?"

"No, we're not doing this! Not now, not with you! You don't get to judge how I live my life and who I'm friends with."

"Obviously someone has to, since you won't!" They were back to the yelling now.

"Fine! You stay here and judge then. I'll be with one of my suspiciously awesome little college friends!" Bonnie made sure to slam the door extra hard on the way out.

* * *

**A/N: Weird chapter, I know. I promise the next will be better. And hopefully it'll also be up a lot faster. Sorry about that. Being an intern is actually really hard (on the plus side, I haven't had to serve anyone coffee yet - so yay for that). Anyways, I hope you're all still sticking with me, even though nothing is happening right now and I'm such a lousy updater. Hope you'll review anyway (if you do, I promise to work extra hard and fast on the next chapter), and let me know if you have any great ideas (or bad, I'm not judging), suggestions, wishes for the next chapter (I haven't written it yet, so I'm open for anything). OK, long rant over.  
Lots of autumn love for you all, Anne**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"You want some more mu shu?"

"No!" Bonnie hid her disgust with a mellow smile. "Thank you." Lisse shrugged and scraped the last onto her own plate.

Bonnie had been staying with Lissie for two days now. Two long days in which she had been subjugated to countless viewings of 'The Notebook' (she had been ready to punch Ryan Gosling in the face after the last time), mu shu at every meal and absolutely silence from he who she would not name.

It wasn't that she didn't like hanging out with Lissie, because she did, she _really did_. She was just so angst-filled by now that anything Lissie said or did was bound to make her angry.

Caroline had called a few times. At first, Bonnie had talked to her, trying to explain to her why she wasn't staying with Kol and why she didn't want to stay with Caroline and Klaus at the hotel either. Caroline, of course, had refused to accept that, and now Bonnie had been forced to screening her calls, which did nothing to improve her mood.

"So, what are your plans for Halloween" Lissie asked in between showing mu shu into her mouth and trying to find the dvd remote (Bonnie could only hope that she wasn't about to be forced into another dissection of 'The Notebook' as she was already penning imaginary hate-letters to Nicholas Sparks).

"Uh I was actually invited to a dorm party" Bonnie said slowly. In all honestly she had forgotten all about it until now. Including telling Caroline about that.

"Cool! Who invited you?"

"Brent, the guy I met in the park."

"Uh, the hot creeper! Bon, that's awesome. At least one of us has a life then."

"You couldn't get out of work?"

"No, and as an extra bonus, now I have to dress like a slutty pumpkin!"

Bonnie stifled her laughter. "I really am sorry."

"You're a horrible liar, Bonnie Bennett. Make out with a hot guy for me."

"I make no promises!"

Lissie rolled her eyes and got up as someone knocked on the door. "You expecting someone?"

"Maybe it's the delivery guy with more mu shu" Bonnie muttered as she removed the batteries from the dvd remote. _Good luck getting your cheesy-romance fix now_, she thought.

"Uh, Bonnie" Lissie called from the door.

"I don't have spare cash" Bonnie called. "Fund your own mu shu pig outs!"

"Bonnie" Lissie hissed. "Someone's here to see you."

Reluctantly, Bonnie got up, brushing the sad remains of a bag of chips off her PJ pants. "What?" She stopped abruptly in the doorway. "Oh… It's you."

"Quite right" Kol said with a blank expression.

"What are you doing here?"

"We finished with the crime scene this morning. I thought you'd might like your things."

"Oh, right. Great!" She had been offered a new dorm from next week and was eager to pack all her things and move somewhere that would be her own. And preferably not tainted by the horrible murder of her old roommate. "I'll just change."

"Please" he said, making her frown at him.

"Uh hi. I'm Lissie, Bonnie's friend" Lissie introduced herself with a big smile.

Kol narrowed his eyes a little and then smiled back. "Really? Lissie? What's that short for?"

"Elizabeth. Elizabeth Cade."

"Pretty. Where are you from, Miss Cade?"

"I grew up just outside Washington."

"Is that so? With both your parents?"

"Yes, my mom is a nurse at the local hospitable and my dad is a math teacher at a high school. My younger sister Mary…"

"Stop that" Bonnie demanded hotly, looking at Kol. "She's not involved!"

Kol smirked a little at her, breaking his compulsion. "Just checking, love."

"I'll see you later, Lis, okay?" Lissie seemed dazed but nodded a little.

Bonnie followed Kol down the hall and out to the parking lot. "You don't expect me to get into the back of that" she asked, staring at the squad car parked in front of them.

"Not tonight" he said, opening the front door for her.

They drove to the dorm in silence. Bonnie was trying to empty her mind and Kol was probably focused on the road, which was good, in Bonnie's honest opinion, because he was a pretty terrible driver. Lissie had sent her text almost the second after Bonnie had departed the apartment, asking who "Officer Hot" was. Bonnie had just deleted it; there was no reason to risk Kol seeing it and having his ego inflate even more.

"They sure cleaned it up good" Bonnie mused, as Kol opened the door to her old dorm room. Every surface was spotless and there were no signs of a horrible and grizzly murder.

"We aim to please" he muttered, walking inside. "Grab what you need."

"I can't just "grab" two years worth of stuff" Bonnie scoffed, starting to riffle through her closet for a big bag.

Kol leaned against the other wall. "Please, are you really planning on keeping this?" He indicated a rather ugly looking chest with drawers standing by the end of her bed. "It looks like something Rebekah made for Klaus when he turned eighteen."

"Well, it has sentimental meaning" Bonnie defended the furniture that she had actually hoped the police would have taken away as evidence.

"Of course" Kol muttered as he sat down on her bed. "You know, it's been a long time since I was last in your room." He looked around a little. "Or your bed."

Bonnie held up her hand to make him stop. "Not another word, thank you."

"Alright, I'll just lean back and…" He took a deep breath. "Let the memories wash over me."

"Or you could wait outside" Bonnie suggested, throwing jeans into her bag.

"Oh where's your sense of humour, little witch?"

"Okay, one: don't call me that! And two: what part of this do you find funny, exactly? I'm packing together my stuff because my roommate got killed because of me while my ex-whatever-you-were is supervising me."

Kol rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll wait outside then."

"Thank you" she sighed and packed the rest of her things in silence. When she was done, she looked around the room. It was weird, being here now. Alicia's parents hadn't picked up her things yet, but she knew they were in the city. She just couldn't face them. She and Alicia hadn't been friends, they weren't social and Bonnie couldn't tell them anything that would make them feel better about the situation. She sat down on her bed and rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ali" she whispered.

"All done" Kol called soon after from outside the dorm.

"I guess" Bonnie muttered, trying to hold up all her things.

"You know, you look like a homeless person."

"I _am_ a homeless person" she sneered at him. They walked to the car in silence. Kol didn't offer to help her with her things.

"So… You really think Lissie could be the killer?"

"What, your dim-witted Dim Sum friend?"

"It was mu shu…"

"She's innocent. Well, relatively innocent. She steals from her job and doesn't always wash her hands after she's used the restroom."

"What? You're kidding, right? Right?"

Kol just shrugged. "Also, she really wants to sleep with you."

* * *

By request, Kol dropped Bonnie off at her new dorm. Technically, she didn't get the key for the room until the next monday, but Kol easily handled the door and she could finally enter her new home and enjoy the serene quiet. Well, at least for a solid two minutes until Kol started to tinker with the radio.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Of course I do, but for the time being I'm stuck here with you."

"Why do you even care" Bonnie asked sourly. Having Kol around again and constantly _not_ talking about everything that had happened (and was somehow still happening) was starting to wear on her mood.

"Well, _I_ don't, but your friends do, which means my intolerable brothers do, which means that if something were to happen to you, I would never hear the end of it."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and shook her head a little. "You're so full of it. You just don't want to admit that you still care about me."

"I never cared about you" Kol answered, but he failed to meet her eyes, suddenly starring at the door instead.

She leaned against the wall a little. "You told me you loved me."

"I was very emotional at that time. I promise it won't happen again."

She had to force a snort down. "I believe you. But you still said it. You wanted me to leave Mystic Falls with you, before everything…"

"Went to hell?"

"Something like that. So you cared. A lot."

"And you didn't" he concluded, looking at his watch.

"Let's just pretend for a second that that's actually the truth" she said hotly. "If you were so sure I didn't care about you at all, why are you here right now, protecting me from something that could very possible want to kill you as well."

He shrugged a little "Like I said…"

"You know, for someone who's had so many years to practice, you're a pretty shitty liar."

"Resorting to cursing now? Very immature, little witch."

"Don't call me that" she snarled at him. "I'm not a witch anymore."

"Look who's bullshitting now" he threw back in her face. "You're no less a judgemental little witch than I am an immortal creature."

All the fight suddenly left Bonnie and she stared down at her hands; they were trembling slightly. "It's true…"

"What?"

"Ever since Matt… Rebekah, you… I don't know…. It stopped working."

"What do you mean, _"it stopped working"_" he asked, looking somewhat bewildered suddenly.

"I couldn't even dim a candle. I tried for some time, but…" She shrugged a little. "Nothing changed, it was like something was blocking my powers. And then I stopped trying. After a while it felt good, actually, to just be normal again, to just be _normal_."

Kol finally met her eyes. "Are you completely dim-witted?"

"Excuse me?"

"You do understand that the only thing stopping some randomly pissed off werewolf from just snapping your neck in the street was the threat of being skinned by you!"

"Well, obviously that hasn't happened, so…"

"That hasn't happened because I've been making sure everyone knew what a powerful witch you are. Or were! But you don't even care!"

"Of course I care, but…"

"Obviously not, otherwise you would have done something to change it" he yelled heatedly. They were almost nose-to-nose now.

"I care" she yelled, jumping to her feet. "I lost my one connection to my grandmother, the ability to help the people I care about, my own identity! I had to practically reinvent myself, because I couldn't be Bonnie Bennett the witch anymore!"

"Yes I can see you've been absolutely torn up about that!"

"How would you know" she demanded, pushing him away from her. "You left!"

He seemed to falter a little. "You didn't want me to stay."

"I asked you, again and again. I begged you not to leave."

"And I didn't" he yelled back. "I couldn't, not really." He closed his eyes in an attempt to regain his temper. "I wanted to kill you, did you know that? I wanted it more than anything in that moment. It would have been easier for me if you were dead."

"Then why didn't you?"

He shrugged, almost like it wasn't important. "I just couldn't. It felt like… Like you had bewitched me, done something to me. No matter what I did, I couldn't rid myself of you. So I just" he made a wry face, "stayed far enough away for you not to notice but close enough to comfort me that you were alright."

As quickly as her temper had taken over her, it left her again and she sacked down on the bed. "Why did you do that? I never asked you to do that."

"That's the point though" he said, leaning against the opposite wall. "You didn't have to. Rebekah, she would howl at me for days at a time, threaten me, plead with me…" He shrugged again. "It never took."

Bonnie stood up on shaky legs and walked over to where he was leaning against the wall and kissed him.

* * *

**A/N: As always, huge thanks for your lovely reviews, faves and alerts. It's the best motivation there is and especially the reviews make me want to jump up and down and do a little happy dance! So please keep them coming. Next chapter, there's going to be a party, costumes (any great ideas for Bonnie's costume - Alice in Wonderland, Buffy, Indiana Jones?), Damon will get a chance to play the hero, Brent will be meeting Kol and Klaus will most likely say something inappropriately.  
I hope you all had amazing Halloweens! Lots of love, Anne**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

She wasn't sure what had possessed her to do it; it was like she was almost compelled to do it (which was thankfully impossible, as she still drank her morning tea with enough vervain to make even Klaus feel violently ill). He responded almost immediately and it seemed like the dam finally broke. They crashed through the room, leaving random pieces of clothes strewn across the floor before collapsing on Bonnie's new bed, which groaned terribly under the weight of the both of them. There was something achingly familiar about being with him again, something she hadn't even known she had missed so terribly until now.

* * *

"Wakey wakey…"

"Huh" Bonnie grumbled disorientated. She opened one eye and shut it again immediately.

"Eggs and…"

"Please stop!"

Caroline sighed and Bonnie could feel her sit down next to her. "Okay, but only because you look like…"

"Thank you, Caroline" Bonnie muttered and finally emerged from under her covers. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you were. Which I think is good, because you don't look to good."

"What do you mean?"

"Did you do something to your hair?"

Bonnie's left hand flew to her hair. "No?"

"Oh, well maybe it's just, I don't know, the light or something. Actually, you look a little like…" Her mouth gaped almost comically. "Bonnie Bennett, you little minx!"

"Oh god…."

"You totally had sex" Caroline exclaimed. "It was that Brent guy, wasn't it? I knew you liked him."

"It wasn't him" Bonnie admitted. She almost wished it was, though, seeing as Kol had apparently fled the scene of the crime like he had Buffy on his tail.

"Oh, one night stand?" When Bonnie shook her head, Caroline frowned. "Please tell me you didn't…"

Bonnie sighed. "I did. I just… It happened and it was amazing and now I feel like a complete idiot because apparently, he didn't agree."

Caroline made a face as she looked around the room. "Did you have sex or have a fight?"

"Bit of both."

"Hm." Caroline tilted her head a little. "What happened?"

"One minute we were yelling at each other and the next, well…"

Caroline jumped off the bed. "Ew, Bonnie! A little warning next time, please!"

Bonnie groaned a little as she got out of bed. She was feeling sore and her muscles felt tired.

"Where are you going" Caroline asked.

"If you're just gonna make stupid faces and immature sounds, I'm gonna get ready for class."

"No, Bonnie wait. I'm sorry, okay, It's just, seriously, Kol?"

"Okay, seriously, Klaus? Why are you being so judgemental?"

"I'm not, I'm worried about you!"

"Well, you have no reason…"

"Bonnie, you were a ghost! When Kol left, you just checked out! It scared me, it scared all of us!"

"I didn't check out, I…" Bonnie started to argue.

"Yes, you did! You didn't talk to us, you barely slept or ate. Stefan had to pick you up to make sure you went to Matt's funeral!" Caroline sighed. "I don't want that to happen to you again, I don't want you to get tangled up into Kol's web only for him to disappear again and you end up hurt again."

"It's not like that" Bonnie muttered, even though it was apparently very much still like that seeing as Kol had left her alone in the bed this morning.

"Then please, Bonnie, explain to me what exactly it is like? Because I'm really afraid you don't know either!"

Bonnie sighed and sat down on her bed. "I can't explain it, it just feels safe to be with him. It makes me feel better."

"I hope you know how unhealthy that sounds?"

"I'm well aware" Bonnie muttered. She looked at her watch. "But thankfully, I get to think about something else for the next two hours."

"What" Caroline asked, looking confused.

"I have class in thirty minutes."

"Oh… Well, you want me to go look for some furniture for you?"

"No, my dad has a meeting in the city next week, I'm sure he won't mind bringing me a few things. So, I guess I'll just see you tomorrow night then?"

"Yes! I can't wait to go to an actual college party."

"Care, I've been telling you over and over again, it's nothing special. Mostly it's just a lot of drunk guys and girls in way too short dresses making really bad lifestyle choices they will surely regret in the morning."

"So? I want to experience that too. It's gonna be awesome!"

Bonnie shook her head; there was just no reasoning with Caroline. "What are you going as?"

"I'm not really sure yet! I've picked out something for you, though."

"No thanks" Bonnie immediately answered. She had let Caroline bully her into increasingly skimpier and stupider costumes every year through high school.

"Come on, Bon! You're like borne to be Jasmine!"

"Jasmine? From Aladdin?"

"Yes!"

"NO" Bonnie almost yelled. "Caroline, just… No!"

"Why not?"

"I am not dressing up in something like that." The thought of showing that much skin made her toes curl in horror.

"But you'd look _amazing_!"

"I don't care. And I have to be in class in a moment." She walked out before Caroline could argue further.

* * *

As it turned out, Bonnie should probably just have accepted the Jasmine costume. Bearing her mid-riff didn't seem quite so bad as being stuck in a two sizes too big maid costume. She was never ever _ever_ asking Sara for a last minute favour again.

"I think you should have…"

"I know" Bonnie growled at Caroline, as they stood in front of the house where the party was held. "I look ridiculous."

"Kinda, yeah" Caroline agreed.

"I hope you realize the irony in your costume" Bonnie bit back at her.

Caroline, in what seemed like the world's worst joke, had dressed as Little Red Riding Hood (or Little Red's daring older sister who worked the Red Light District Fridays to Sunday).

"Klaus helped pick it out."

"Of course he did." With a lot of trepidation, Bonnie knocked on the door and put on her biggest, fakest smile when some frat guy dressed as Donald Trump opened the door. "You're fired" he greeted them. Bonnie just rolled her eyes and followed Caroline inside.

Before they had even walked three feet into the house, both of them had a cup of alcohol in their hands. The music was pounding and there were definitely more people in the room than what was allowed. Caroline was already on her way to the dance floor and Bonnie had been spotted by a guy from her history class.

"Hey Bonnie, right?"

She nodded. "Dave?"

"I'm flattered you remember" he said with a smile. "You look really good."

An obvious lie, but Bonnie let it be; he was probably just trying to be nice. "Thanks. And I must say, you make a really good Perez Hilton."

"Why thank you" he said in girly voice. "Having fun?"

"Just got here."

"Oh, well then you definitely need something better to drink." He turned around and poured her something from the table beside him and handed a new cup to her.

"Thanks" Bonnie smiled and raised the cup.

"Yeah, you don't wanna drink that" someone sad behind her and before Bonnie could protest, her cup was being lifted out of her hand.

"Hey" Dave objected.

"Damon? What are you doing here?"

"Apparently saving you from waking up tomorrow with a very nasty ache" Damon said, staring at Dave.

"What?"

"He spiked your drink" Damon explained with an eye roll before turning to Dave. "Rohypnol?"

"Uh" Dave stuttered, looking at his shoes.

"Yeah, I bet your parents are really proud. Why don't you go home and rethink your life?"

Bonnie stared at Dave's retreating back. "You just Jedi mind-tricked him!"

"I was feeling generous!"

She looked at the cup. "Thanks, I guess. I hadn't noticed anything."

"No worries" he smiled. "It's my job to protect your family line, remember."

"Yes, and remind me again how well that's going?"

"Well, you're still alive and snarking" he countered.

"Why are you here, Damon" she asked and started to move through the throng of people. She had lost sight of Caroline, who had no doubt lost herself on the dance floor.

"I was asked to make sure you were alright."

She wanted to groan. "So Kol compelled you to be my guardian for the night."

Damon stepped in front of her and smiled a little. "I don't need to be compelled for something like that."

Bonnie wasn't sure how to respond to that. "What are you dressed as?"

"I'm Christan Grey" he said with a smirk, indicating the fact that he was wearing a suit.

"How original."

"Coming from the what, really frigid maid?"

"I had to borrow an outfit from a friend" Bonnie defended.

"You might want to rethink that next year. Maybe invest in a pointy hat and a fake rubber nose. I take it you already got the broom."

"Oh ha ha" Bonnie muttered. "So why are you really here?"

"I already told you, I was asked to look out for you tonight. And clearly you need it."

"Who asked you?"

Damon narrowed his eyes a little and suddenly pushed her hair away from her neck. Bonnie quickly slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me."

"I take it you've made up with Kol?"

She self-consciously covered the mark at the base of her neck. He hadn't actually bitten her as much as he had nibbled, but it had left a mark all the same.

"Maybe you should ask him to go easier on you next time" Damon suggested with a raised eyebrow.

"Stay out of it" Bonnie warned, trying once again to shake him off by walking into a new crowd of people.

"Or maybe you like it a little rough? Is that it?"

"I swear I am about two seconds from setting you on fire" Bonnie warned.

Damon scoffed at her. "Please, I know you're malfunctioning."

Bonnie flew around to face him so fast it made her dizzy. "What?"

"Why do you think I'm here?"

"Kol told you?"

"I think it's pretty obvious, seeing as you haven't as much as lit a damn candle since leaving Mystic Falls."

"How do you know that?"

"I like to check in."

As if having Kol admit to keeping tabs on her wasn't enough, Damon just had to stalk her as well. She briefly pictured the two of them sitting in Kol's squad car, sharing a donut and taking turns watching her through a pair of binoculars. They were both complete psychos.

"Hey… What are you doing here?" Caroline had just popped up in front of them and her tone turned from peppy drunk to frosty in a manner of seconds.

"Oh look, it's Little Red Riding Ho."

"Go to hell Damon" Caroline sneered.

"Take a look around, Barbie… I'm already there" he countered with his usual smirk.

"Come on Bonnie, let's dance."

Bonnie wasn't sure what she was most inclined to do; she really didn't like dancing with Caroline, who usually just used her as a human pole, but chatting with Damon wasn't exactly her idea of fun either. She let Caroline push her out onto the dance floor.

"What the hell is Damon Salvatore doing here?"

Bonnie shrugged. She didn't feel like getting into detail about how he had apparently been stalking her on a hobby basis. She was genuinely shocked, though; she had no idea he cared enough to take a break from his busy schedule of stalking Elena.

"Lots of drunk college girls…. Seems like his type of party" Bonnie muttered as she tried to move to the beat of the music.

"He's such a creeper" Caroline said with a scowl, but her disposition suddenly turned sunny. "You're here!"

Bonnie turned around and saw Klaus. It was like the people on the dance floor just parted for him automatically to let him through to them (proving that drunk people in fact did have a natural survival instinct). "Speaking of creepers" Bonnie muttered, looking him up and down.

Klaus was wearing scrubs and had paired them with shiny black military boots and what appeared to be the remains of his dinner. His blond hair was combed into a razor sharp side part and on his chest a label said 'gynaecologist". Bonnie almost threw up.

She didn't even bother to excuse herself but just walked off the dance floor, intending to find the nearest exit. She had been to the party for maybe an hour and she was so ready to just go home now. Maybe she would rent the Notebook on her way. She had just spotted the door when someone called her name.

"Bonnie, hey!"

"Hey Brent" Bonnie greeted. She tilted her head a little when she noticed his costume. "And you're dressed as a vampire?"

"You like it" he asked with a smile.

"Uh…"

"Because, you know, of the whole you being Bella thing."

Her eyes must have looked almost comically wide. "What?

"Our talk…" Brent suddenly looked like he dearly regretted his costume.

"Oh yeah, right" Bonnie laughed uneasy, thinking back to their initial meeting. "Funny."

"So, you want a drink?"

"I'm kinda taking it easy right now" she said, not trusting someone she barely knew to hand her drink at the moment.

"Oh okay, sure… So, are you at least enjoying the party?"

Bonnie looked over to where Caroline and Klaus were dancing. "Yeah, sure" she lied easily and smiled at Brent.

"Hey you wanna dance" he asked when he noticed her looking at the dance floor.

"Uh, not right now."

"So, did you get a new place to stay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, just moved, actually. Single room."

"So no more weird room mates?"

"Hopefully not. I have enough in my weird friends" she said with a genuine smile. It was so easy to talk to Brent.

"Well, what's life without a few weird friends, huh? How's your ankle?"

"All fine."

"That's great. Maybe we should go running together some day?"

"Oh that sounds like fun, doesn't it Bon Bon." Damon had once again materialised out of thin air next to her. He put his arm around her, which she immediately shrugged off. "I'm Damon" he said without offering Brent a hand to shake. "Bonnie's old _friend_."

"Emphasis on old" Bonnie muttered. "Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

"No no, I promised to look after you and that's what I'm doing." He gave her a dazzling smile that might have sent Elena into a frenzy.

Bonnie noticed the song playing now was Kesha's "Die Young", which felt strangely ominous. "Why don't you go get me a drink" she suggested to Damon. "Since you're so concerned for me."

He made a face. "Fine. Don't go anywhere."

"Who was that" Brent asked as Damon started to push his way through the crowd.

Bonnie frowned a little. "He kinda used to date a friend of mine. Or she dated his younger brother but… And he dated one of our other friends. And we sometimes worked together, I suppose… It's a really long story, actually" she said. "I don't know why he's here."

"No offense, but he seemed like…"

"A total jackass" Bonnie asked? "Yeah, that barely covers it. He's pretty insufferable."

"What was he dressed as, exactly?"

Bonnie groaned a little at having to say it out loud. "Christian Grey."

Brent almost chugged his drink all over her from laughter. "Really? That's… Wow…"

"I know. I don't even want to think about the fact that he actually read that book."

"Have you read it" Brent asked and there was a definite twinkle in his eyes.

"I'd rather not say" she said and blushed a little.

"That's kinda hot" he said and she could feel herself blush even more.

She had tried her best not to think about Kol since she had woken up in an empty bed two days ago, but the first day she had been sore enough to constantly think of him whenever she moved on her chair in class. It had been so distracting that she'd barely been able to focus on her professor. She had thought of calling him, asking him, well, anything really; why he had just left like that, where he was, if it had been as good for him as it had been for her, if he wanted to come over like right now? But she didn't, because in the end she was still very much the same Bonnie Bennett she had always been and her pride forbade her from calling him first. He had left, so he should be the one to call and beg! But standing here with Brent, blushing a little because of a dirty, stupid book, that felt almost like cleansing her system. Kol who, she told herself. She had ben so preoccupied by all the new sensations since their night together she had barely been able to function, and for a while she thought she saw him everywhere. Like now, for example. Oh wait…

"Kol" she squeaked.

Brent looked confused. "Isn't that the name of your ex?"

She had maybe five seconds before he reached them. "Brent, whatever happens now, I'm so sorry" she hurriedly whispered.

"What? I don't…"

"Hello" Kol interrupted with a terrifying smile.

Bonnie desperately wanted a hole to open up and swallow her! He was wearing his goddamn uniform!

"Where's your guard dog" he asked her.

"He went to get me a drink."

"Hm…" Kol turned to look at Brent. "I'm Kol."

"Brent" Brent said, looking somewhat less sure of him self than he did a minute ago. "Uh, cool costume."

"It's not a costume" Kol corrected.

Brent visibly gulped. "Your ex is a cop" he said, looking at Bonnie.

"Among other things" she muttered. "Why are you here?"

"Came to find Nik."

"The Nazi gynaecologist is dancing with his girlfriend."

"So, uh, are you like here to arrest someone" Brent asked. He looked like he was sweating a little now.

"Why? Are you worried" Kol asked, still smiling a little. "Nice costume, by the way. Very… Authentic."

"They're over there" Bonnie pointed out. She really wanted Kol to leave.

He nodded and turned to look at Brent again. "It was _very _nice to meet you, Brent. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to chat later." One last horrible smile and he was gone.

Bonnie wondered if she looked as terrible as Brent. "So that was your ex, huh? Wow."

"Yeah, he's… I'm really sorry."

"He's a cop…"

"Yeah…"

"A pretty scary cop!"

"Brent, listen…"

"And British. He's like British, right? I mean, he had the accent…"

"Brent…"

"Is that even allowed? I thought you had to be American to become a cop."

"Brent" Bonnie almost yelled to get his attention. Despite the loud music surrounding them, a few people still turned around to look at her. "Listen, I'm really sorry about him! He just like to rattle people. Just forget him."

"Yeah sure…" He tried to smile but still looked like he most of all just wanted to go home and lock the door.

Bonnie tried to restart the conversation a few times after that, but Brent seemed completely rattled and she finally just gave up, telling him she had to find Caroline and wishing him a good night. He gave a shaky laugh at that and almost ran the opposite way of her.

"Great" she muttered, looking around. "Just… Great."

"Hey Bonnie."

Bonnie turned around. "Sara? What…" She was enveloped in a tight hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, the party just sounded so fun when you talked about it so I just had to come."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes a little. She was pretty sure she had downplayed the party as much as possible when she had talked to Sara about borrowing a costume. In fact, she was sure she had told Sara they were probably only gonna be a few people and she was thinking about leaving before ten.

"So, having a good time" Sara asked, apparently completely oblivious to Bonnie's scowl.

"I think I'm just about full on fun for the night" she said, looking around her. She couldn't see any of her chaperones.

"Oh don't be like that" Sara said, nudging her. "Hey, I heard there's more quiet down the hall, why don't we check that out?"

"Uh, not sure that's a good idea. I should maybe…"

"Come on Bonnie, live a little" she laughed and started to drag her out of the main room and down the hall.

Bonnie followed with a sigh of dejection. Maybe it would do her some good to get away from all the noise and her scary ex and the vampire Nazi couple and Damon… Yeah, this was probably a good idea. She was just about to tell Sara that when she was roughly pushed into a dark room.

"Sara! What's…"

"Oh shut up" Sara yelled, closing the door behind them and locking it.

"What…"

"So, the great Bonnie Bennett doesn't know what's going on, does she" she said in a mocking tone.

"Sara, what…"

"Where's the damn stake?"

"What?"

"The stake, Bonnie, the stake! The stake that can kill the whole vampire infestation."

Bonnie's eyes went wide for a moment. "You're… You're one of them?"

"If you mean one the witches trying to rid the world of the vampire rodents, then yes. I am!" She sounded proud.

Bonnie just stared at her. She had been friends with Sara for almost a year and she had never suspected anything. Why was she doing this now? "I don't understand…"

"What is it that you don't understand, exactly? That you're helping these filthy things destroy life after life, helping them sustain and grow stronger and kill more people? That makes you just as bad as one of them."

"Is that why you killed Lucy?"

"Lucy…" Sara spat on the floor as if the name made her feel sick. "Lucy was even worse than you, she helped that bitch Katherine escape our grasp again and again. But we got her in the end, too."

"Katherine is dead?"

"Dead and dusted! We burned them together, it was kinda poetic actually."

"And Alicia?"

Sara shrugged a little. "She got in the way. I thought it was you but once she'd seen me, I couldn't very well just let her live." She smiled a little. "You know, I really thought you had me figured out when I came to see you right after you found her, but no… Everything just fly right over your head, doesn't it? Luckily you needed a costume for this ridiculous party and I knew it was my chance. I can probably pin this on some drunk frat boy."

"Why would you wait a whole a year?"

"Well, at first we didn't plan to, because you are from Mystic Falls where all this evil seems to originate from, but then it became clear to me that you had left everything behind. You didn't even practise anymore, and I started to pity you because you led such a miserable and pathetic little life. So I just stayed to make sure you really were just a sad former witch and didn't help vampires anymore. But then when I came to see you after I'd taken care of your roommate…"

"Is that what you're calling it" Bonnie interjected heatedly. It felt so wrong for Sara to talk about Alicia like that.

"When I saw you there" Sara just pushed on like Bonnie hadn't said anything, "I also saw that vile creature Niklaus and his blonde flavour of the month. And then your ex showed up, dressed up like a human but I knew right from the moment I saw him what he really was. Just another original rodent!"

"You're sick!"

"_I'm_ the sick one? No, _you're_ the sick one here, helping them, screwing with one of them. But no more, Bonnie… It stops tonight."

Bonnie took a small step back and hit the wall behind her. She was powerless to do anything to stop Sara, short of actually physically attacking her. So that's what she did! They tussled for a bit, scratching and pulling each other's hair. Bonnie had been able to catch Sara by surprise and had the initial overhand, but now she was starting to regret never joining Elena for Alaric's self-defence lessons. With a loud grunt, Sara managed to shake her off and she hit the floor, hard.

"Little bitch" Sara growled and kicked her.

Bonnie tried to roll away when she heard Sara start to chant. There was no use in trying to call for a protection charm, she might as well have tried to grow wings, so she would have to figure something else out, and fast! "Help" she screamed, trying to get up. "Anyone, _help_!"

"Shut up" Sara yelled, pushing her over. They collapsed together on the floor again, and Bonnie felt that Sara might not be as strong as she had let on. With all the strength she had left, Bonnie grabbed Sara's head and pushed it onto the floor as hard as she could. There was a resounding crack and she could feel Sara's grip lighten. She pushed herself up off the floor and started for the door again, only to have Sara reach out and pull on her right leg, making her fall hard to the floor again. She could feel a warm, metallic liquid spread through her mouth and was pretty sure she had at least knocked out a tooth.

"Would you just stop fighting" Sara growled at her, also getting up. She started to chant again as she walked slowly towards Bonnie. She closed her eyes and gave a last ditch try to summon some kind of witchy power, but nothing happened. It was almost like she was being mocked.

"I guess this is goodbye" Sara said, pulling out a knife from somewhere inside her coat. "But this is better, trust me. There's no vampires where you're going."

The door practically flew of its hinges and Damon almost fell into the room. Sara looked annoyed for a moment, but then started to chant again. Damon immediately started to howl in pain, clutching his head.

"Nifty little trick, don't you agree" Sara asked with a twisted smile. "I'll deal with him afterwards." She pushed past Damon with her knife raised.

It happened so fast Bonnie was unsure of what actually transpired. She felt a surge of hot energy course through her and then there was a sort of pop and she felt a wet and clammy something hit her face, her arms, everywhere she wasn't covered. "What?"

"Holy…" Damon panted, looking at her like she had just grown wings and an extra head.

Kol burst into the room followed by Caroline and Klaus. Kol seemed to notice her vacant stare and grabbed her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes. "You're OK!" She wasn't sure if he was trying to compel her, but there was a calming notion in his voice and she nodded a little.

"What the hell happened" Caroline shrieked.

"She just sort of…" Damon frowned a little. "Popped."

"She _popped_" Klaus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just…" Damon made a motion from his head, mimicking an explosion.

"Oh my god" Caroline exclaimed staring at Bonnie. "How?"

Damon looked at Bonnie, who kept staring at the remains of Sara's body. Her head was missing! It might have been sort of funny, she thought, if she'd seen it in a movie or something, but having it happen to you without even knowing _how_ it happened... She didn't feel much like laughing.

"Can you walk?"

Bonnie looked up, dazed, and met the cool brown eyes of Kol. "What?" It was like there was an echo in her head. Kol looked sort of blurry and she suddenly felt really dizzy. She felt herself stumble, only to be picked up in strong, hard arms and then she sort of floated out of the room and through the house, away from the party, the noise and Sara's headless corpse. She nuzzled into chest and closed her eyes, blocking everything out except from the voice telling her that she was OK.

* * *

She wasn't sure how long she had been drifting along, but she felt the cold air hit her skin and opened her eyes. "Where are we?"

"Almost home" Kol told her, carrying her up the many stairs. She recognized the stairwell; they were almost outside his apartment.

"Why?"

"Because you need to be somewhere safe right now."

"I'm safe?" Even in her dazed state she wanted to cringe a little at her pathetic tone.

"You're safe with me, I promise."

"OK" she muttered, closing her eyes again.

Kol locked them into the apartment and closed the door soundly behind them. He helped her find her balance and she gingerly walked into the living room. The lights were on, which was weird because he hadn't been home before that.

"Hey Bonnie" Elena greeted them in a tentative voice.

* * *

**A/N: Confession: I actually read Fifty Shades of Grey! I had to stop after the first book though, because I was worried that my face would never return to its original colour and that my toes might never uncurl. So, yeah…  
****I was kinda thinking about maybe borrowing Conner and the whole mythology surrounding the Five, but I'm not really sure I could do it justice, so for now, I'll keep that idea on the back burner.  
****Thanks soooo much for your lovely reviews and suggestions for costumes for Bonnie. I ended up with maid because it what was I had originally written, but I love that you played along anyway. I pretty much live on your reviews, so please keep them coming, I love to hear your thoughts, and as always, if you have questions of any kind, please don't hesitate to ask.**

**Anne**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Bonnie stared at her former best friend for a second. For all the talk of Elijah and Elena coming to assist them in figuring this out, she hadn't actually been prepared to see Elena. And especially not like this.

"I think I need a shower" she whispered, staring at her hands.

Kol nodded and she started to shuffle off in direction of his bathroom. She tried to get the costume off, but her hands were shaking so much it was almost impossible and she gave up. She tried to turn the water on instead, but even that was difficult. "Come on" she sobbed quietly. She needed to get the remains of Sara off of her.

A warm hand covered Bonnie's and helped her turn the warm water on. "You're ok" Elena told her quietly, helping her into the shower.

Bonnie could hear a door open and close behind her and then another set of hands was helping her, gently washing the blood off her.

"Care?"

"You're gonna be ok, Bonnie" Caroline said in a quiet tone, giving her a small smile. "We'll make sure it'll be okay, won't we Elena?"

"We will" Elena agreed.

Bonnie closed her eyes as her friends gently washed her hair and face, and then slid down the cold tiles to sit on the floor of the shower.

"I killed someone" she muttered.

Caroline and Elena sat down next to her, both putting their arms around her. "She was going to kill you, Bonnie. And she killed your roommate, and who knows how many others. Maybe even Lucy" Caroline said.

"But…"

"I know" Elena said. "You'll have to carry this for a long time, but… We will help you through it."

Bonnie just nodded and rested her head against Elena's shoulder, letting the water wash away the last remains of blood.

* * *

Bonnie didn't know what time it was when she got up. She didn't even know how she ended up in bed and where everyone was. The apartment was dark when she tiptoed out into the kitchen, wondering if everyone was asleep or just somewhere else.

"Couldn't sleep?"

She almost jumped ten feet into the air by the sound of his voice. "Oh god" she whispered, holding a hand over her heart. "You scared me."

"I'd apologize, only…"

"You're not sorry?"

Damon smirked. "You know me so well, little witch."

"Too well" she muttered, opening the fridge and taking out a carton of her favourite brand of orange juice. She wondered if Kol had stocked it just for her. "Why are you here?"

"In case you haven't noticed, we're all here." He shrugged. "Well, almost…"

Bonnie frowned a little at his tone. It sounded almost hurt. "Who's missing?" She did a mental headcount but came up empty.

"Stefan."

"Oh…" Now his tone made sense. "Have you called him?"

"Yeah. Turns out, my dear little brother isn't so interested in witchy problems."

"He's not coming?"

"He's not coming" Damon confirmed.

"And this upsets you" she concluded, taking a sip of the orange juice.

"Please" Damon said with an eye roll. "Like I care. Just thought he'd come running at the chance of being able do something stupid and heroic."

It was obvious he was trying to cover the fact that he was hurt his brother wasn't interested in helping them, although Bonnie found it a little reassuring that at least one person from their dysfunctional group had managed to move on completely. "I'm sorry, Damon."

He shrugged again. "Like I care."

"Thank you…"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Did my ears just deceive me?"

"You tried to save me, even though Sara would have killed you too. So… Thank you."

He narrowed his eyes a little at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Numb. I think that's for the best right now. But I needed to say thank you."

"You're very welcome" he said in a sober tone and then immediately smirked at her. "How about a thank you kiss?"

"How about you keep your lips to yourself and I don't break your face" someone said behind Bonnie.

"I think that was my cue to leave" Damon said and sauntered off. He stopped right next to Bonnie and leaned down. "I'm glad you're ok."

Kol took the place opposite her that Damon had previously occupied. "Should I be worried you're turning into Elena?"

Bonnie smiled a little into her glass. "Don't tell me you're jealous?"

"Of Damon Salvatore and his ever growing collection of leather jackets?

"I wanted to thank him."

"You should be careful with that. He might just take more than your thank you."

"Like you?"

Kol only shrugged. "Did you sleep well?"

"I feel like someone drugged me."

"That would be your lovely Barbie friend. She put enough of my good scotch into your tea to knock out a rhino."

"Where is everyone now?"

"Sleeping, I suspect. Klaus, Damon and Elijah handled the body after we left and Caroline followed here. And obviously Elena was waiting for us here."

"So, Elijah is here as well?"

"Well, he couldn't very well let his precious doppleganger travel alone, now could he?" Kol rolled his eyes a little. "Don't ever let it be said that my brother doesn't have a type."

Bonnie snorted into her juice. "I should thank you too."

"And yet, you haven't" he pointed out.

"Thank you. For everything."

"Everything?"

"Well, I'm not happy about the stalking, but…" She made a face. "I don't think I ever gave you enough credit as a good person."

It was his turn to scoff now. "Don't fool yourself."

"I'm not. You're a good person, Kol Michaelson. You were good to me and you have always been good to Rebekah."

Kol stared down at his hands at that.

"She's dead, isn't she?" She had suspected it for a while.

"Yes…" His voice was hoarse.

"Did you do it?"

"Yes. She was miserable and she asked me. So I did it." That probably explained some of the vampires that had gone missing, Bonnie thought. "Klaus and Elijah doesn't know."

"Okay" Bonnie said, a silent promise that she wasn't going to tell them. She reached out and stroked his cheek gently.

"You know, I'm supposed to be comforting _you_, not the other way around" he whispered.

"We should comfort each other" she told him with a small smile, leaning into him.

* * *

Time seemed to stand still after Sara's death. Bonnie existed in a sort of half-life, shuffling off to classes with either Caroline or Elena in tow. One memorable afternoon had entailed shopping with Elijah and she had a feeling that someone was standing outside the door whenever she went to the bathroom. She was also pretty much living in Kol's apartment now, which was something she was desperate to talk to him about but also at a complete loss for how to approach. Damon would pop up sometimes, smirking and scowling, but he seldom stayed long and never if Kol was around as well. There was certainly something between them that Bonnie wasn't privy to.

Bonnie had thought of simply dropping out of college for the time. She was more than half way through, but she knew her grades were slipping because of the stress and she wasn't sure if she could tolerate another class of Caroline unhinging her jaw as her yawns became more and more pronounced. Clearly, history wasn't for everyone! Elena fared somewhat better and she tried hard to act interested and participate as much as she possibly could, but Bonnie could tell she was bored brainless as well and simply did it to make up for lost time between them. Bonnie made sure to be vocal of her appreciation.

She was pretty sure the only reason she hadn't quit though, was her father. He was paying for her education and she knew that it was important for him that she earned her degree and made something of her self. And of course, Grams had always installed the importance of being an educated woman and never relying on anyone. Bonnie sometimes had nightmares of Grams rolling around in her grave over what her life had become.

She didn't drop out though, and instead vowed to herself to be better. She was being followed around everywhere by at least one vampire, so really, she shouldn't worry about anything. Well, except for figuring out what her life was now. And what part Kol was going to play in it.

* * *

"Where are you going?"

Bonnie closed her eyes for a moment. The constant sneaking up on her was perhaps the worst thing about living with a vampire (or several, in her current predicament).

"Packing a bag."

"Yes, thank you" Kol deadpanned. "I can see that quite fine. _Where_ are you going with said bag?"

"I'm meeting my dad."

"Your father is in town?"

"Yes."

"And you'll need a spare change of socks and…" He held up her dismal excuse for a wallet. "This sad piece of sheep?"

"It's fake" Bonnie said, snatching her wallet out of his hand. "And I need money for the bus so I'm bringing my wallet."

"You can take my car."

"I am not taking your car."

"Then why not just have Elena drive you?"

"She's out with Elijah."

"Where's Caroline?"

Bonnie shrugged, stuffing a pair of purple mittens into her bag as well. Her father had a weird habit of always checking if she was wearing warm clothes and was prepared for a change of weather. It was his way of showing parental concerned, she thought.

She looked up and recognized the look on Kol's face. "Look, I'm gonna see my dad. We'll be out in the open, surrounded by lots of people minding their own business and that's that."

"Why didn't you ask me to come?"

"Because I thought you were working." She might, _might_, just have memorized his work schedule some time ago.

"I'm not."

"I can see that" she mimicked him. She checked her umbrella and stuffed a few plastic bags into the bag as well.

"How long will you be gone?"

"Just a couple of hours, I think. He'll probably want to see my new dorm room too, and maybe we'll go shopping…" She shrugged. "Is it important?"

"I'm just curios" he offered and tilted his head a little.

"Or paranoid" she muttered, making sure she had packed the extra socks.

"How long has it been since you saw your father?"

"Uh, shortly before semester-start, why?"

"You miss him?"

"Not really, I'm used to not seeing him and we talk on the phone regularly."

"But you want alone time with him now?"

"Kol, seriously, what is going on?"

He made a face at her. "Why didn't you ask me to come?"

She dropped her bag on the floor. "What?"

"I was just wondering if there was a specific reason why I wasn't asked to come and meet your father?"

"Other than the fact that he has no idea who you are?"

"And that's the other thing, because we dated when you were in high school and you never told your father about me." His frown became more pronounced, a bad look on someone so handsome. "Are you embarrassed of me?"

Bonnie gaped at him. "What was I supposed to say? Oh hey dad, this is my seriously older man friend who just happens to be a vampire trapped in an eighteen year old's body. Please don't worry about me inviting him into our home, he only kills high school football players!"

"Or you could have introduced me to him as your boyfriend, period."

She rolled her eyes. "I can't believe we're having this conversation. We didn't even talk about what the hell we were back then and we have no idea what we are now."

"We don't?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"We do" she asked just as surprised. "Kol, we never talk! We never have. You make jokes and act like nothing gets to you and I _never_ know where I have you because you never tell me how you feel!" She wanted to kick her bag out of frustration and she had to fight to hold back tears.

"Alright, let's talk then."

"Now? You want to do this _now_?"

"Why not?"

"Because I have to meet my father in like thirty minutes and I'm already late!"

"Okay, so we'll talk on the way."

Bonnie had to pinch the bridge of her nose in order not to scream. "Kol, why is this so important to you? I don't understand it."

"I promise I'll tell you later, let's just go."

"What am I supposed to call you in front of my dad? He's not just gonna pretend like nothing!"

"What do you want to tell him?"

"I don't want to tell him anything because I don't want you to come!"

He shrugged, like he didn't care what she had just said. "I'm coming."

"Fine!" She picked up her bag and strode out the door. "But you're not wearing the uniform!"

They walked to the car in silence and Bonnie huffed angrily as she got in, crossing her arms and staring pointedly out of the window.

"You could call me your lover."

She turned to look at him, horrified. "You are _not_ my lover! And never _ever_ say that word in front of my dad!"

"But you're okay with boyfriend?"

"You're not my boyfriend either. We haven't had the talk!"

She could practically hear his eyes rolling. "What is this, high school? We need to have a talk to determine the status of our affiliation?"

"Yes! Maybe that's not what they did when dinosaurs walked the earth, but that's what you do today! You talk about what kind of relationship you want."

"Okay, first of all, obviously I'm not _that_ old! But fine, I'll bite. What kind of relationship do you want?"

She was a bit caught of guard by that. "Uh… I don't really know."

"Well, I'm pulling up to the restaurant now, so think fast."

She got out of the car and stumbled after him towards the restaurant where she had agreed to meet her father. What kind of relationship did she want? Preferably one where no one had to die, she thought to herself.

"Dad" she greeted, hugging her father.

"Bon" he said with a smile. "Look at you, you get prettier everyday." He held her at arms length. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Better now" he said, still smiling. Then he started to frown a little. "There's a man standing right behind you."

"Yeah, about that… Dad, meet Kol. Kol, this is my dad Henry Wright."

"Mr. Wright" Kol said, shaking his hand.

"Hello" her father said in a measured voice, seizing Kol up and down. "And who might you be?"

"Uh, this is my, uh… Friend…" She noticed her voice was several octaves higher than usual.

"Is that so" her father said with a raised eyebrow, but he didn't make any further comments and just led them to the table, where one of the waiters promptly set up for Kol too.

"So, what's been going on" he father asked when they were all sitting down.

"Not much. School is good, but… It was pretty horrible with Alicia."

"Yes, I can only imagine. Thank god you weren't home at the time."

"Yeah" Bonnie agreed. She still had nightmares about Sara lurking under her bed with a huge stake.

"And what about you, Mr.?"

"Michaelson" Kol said.

"That's a very interesting accent, Mr. Michaelson. Where are you from?"

"England, originally, but I moved here with my family when I was young. I'm afraid I just never mastered the accent."

"Where did you two meet? You go to school too?"

"No, actually dad… Kol lived in Mystic Falls for a little while. We met when I was in senior year."

"Really? I don't remember that."

Bonnie wasn't surprised by that at all. Her father had to be the most clueless person to ever live in Mystic Falls and for that she was truly grateful. She could remember a time when she had resented him for always travelling all over the country to do business and would leave her with her grams or just by herself, but once the supernatural entered her world, she couldn't have been happier that he knew nothing about it. "Yeah, we just sort of reconnected here a couple of months ago."

"Is that so? How nice. And what do you do, Mr. Michaelson."

"Kol is fine. I'm a police officer."

"What kind of name is Kol" Mr. Wright questioned.

"Its' an old family name. I'm afraid my parents were a bit old fashioned."

"When you say "were"…"

Kol bowed his head a little, clearly just for show. "My parents died some time ago."

"Oh, I'm very sorry."

"Thank you, but it happened a long time ago." Bonnie had to hide a snort as a cough at that.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yes, three brothers and one sister. It was quite a crowded household growing up."

"Bonnie used to beg us for a brother or sister. She was so jealous of Elena and Jeremy growing up."

"I certainly grew out of that" Bonnie muttered into her glass.

"How long have you been a police officer? You don't look very old."

"I'm older than I look" Kol answered with a smile. "But I've been wearing the uniform for about a year. It was great seeing Bonnie out and about one night here in the city. I've always regretted we lost contact after high school."

Bonnie saw her father smile turn soft and wanted to groan. Kol had obviously worked his magic on him. They ate and talked casually with her father inquiring some more about her studies ("I am paying, after all" he objected when she told him to stop) and after the meal there was the awkward fight over the bill. Usually Bonnie just let her father pay, mainly because he liked doing it and she was pretty much in a permanent state of broke as a student, but before the check had even touched the table, Kol had snatched it up.

"Please, allow me" he said with that easy going smile that made him look like a tame killer shark.

"No, I couldn't do that" her father insisted, trying to grab the check.

"It's quite alright."

"No no, this restaurant was my choice and it's quite pricy."

Bonnie immediately saw where this was going and so did Kol, apparently. "That's not a problem."

"Please, it's fine… I understand that as a cop you don't exactly…"

"I'm from old money" Kol replied coolly, leaving the required amount of money and then some on the table. "Shall we?"

Mr. Wright walked them to the car, hugging Bonnie tightly. "You be good now, alright?"

"Yes daddy" she said with a smile. After everything that had happened, she was still his little girl.

"It was nice meeting you, Kol" he told Kol and they shook hands again. "Don't be a stranger."

"I won't, promise" Kol said with a smirk, pinching Bonnie's behind.

They got in the car and Bonnie took a deep breath. "I want this."

"This?"

"Normal. I want normal. Dinners with my dad, being with my friends, getting my degree." She shrugged a little. "I want to be boring, get old and have wrinkles and a normal life."

Kol nodded. "What if I told you there was a way to have that?"

* * *

**A/N: Hey, long time, no update. I'm really sorry about that. Someone left a review asking me to be a good writer and update and that stung a little, because I really do try to do my best, but for the last six months I've been working full time, writing an extremely important paper for school and prepping for an equally important exam (which I'd like to shamelessly say I completely aced) and in a hot minute I'm gonna start writing my master's thesis, so I just kinda had to let the story go for a while. Again I'm sorry, I really do try, I promise!**

**Huge thanks to everyone who reviewed! Your reviews always make my day and I love love love (crave?) your feedback. A very very special thanks to ****gitan312**** who pm'ed me about doing some fanart on tumblr for this story (funny note: I have no idea what tumblr is). She was just so sweet and polite (I'm a huge believer in always being polite) and you should all visit her tumblr and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for caring so much about this little story.**

**Last thing, I promise: This is the second to last chapter! I have finally figured out how I'm gonna end this monster that's been haunting my dreams for months now (and I'm sort of working on something brand new). Last chapter will hopefully come soon and, spoiler alert, is going to be from Kol's perspective. I hope you're gonna like it!**

**I hope you all had amazing holidays and made merry with your family (my family had a wonderful Christmas where no one sat fire to anything, so yay for growing as a family) and got everything you wished for.**

**Lots of love, Anne.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N1: Uh so, R.I.P. Kol, I guess… We hardly knew you… So much for you showing up in New Orleans this fall.**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

Kol didn't believe in love at first sight. Never had. Growing up in a household filled with abuse and hate hadn't exactly encouraged a deep belief in love. He had lusted at first sight though, and second and third… He had definitely lusted a lot.

But love never came easy. He wondered if he was just as damaged as Nik in that department. He sometimes envied their other siblings for being able to love so truly and completely. He had seen Elijah give his heart to that filthy trollop Katherine, despite being spurned by her ancestor, and Finn had only ever had eyes for Sage. Rebekah, who had always craved love the most and always received it the least, had been so destroyed by Alexander's betrayal that Kol had worried she would never recover. As it turned out, she hadn't. He had raged at Nik when he discovered that he had allowed her to fall in love with that dilatant Stefan Salvatore, only to remove all his memories of their relationship. What crueller fate could there be than to love someone who couldn't even remember their time with you?

Kol thought for a time that he loved Mirela. He had certainly lusted after her enough to almost drive him insane. Everything about her was made to lure him in, from her soft voice to her fiery green eyes. She was perfection and she was forbidden and that was enough. He had been enthralled and begged her endlessly to just forget her family and come away with him. Nik, ever the helpful brother, had of course removed the obstacle of her family for them. Kol had found her hanging in a tree two days later and that had been it.

He didn't like dwelling on her. It made him feel uncomfortable for loving her and not _really_ loving her and the fact she had killed herself because of his infatuation. It was one of the things that were buried now, along with Esther and Finn and Mikael. He thought it was a little ironic that his family was so special yet just like everyone else in that they had things they couldn't talk about in order to keep the peace.

* * *

Bonnie was different, though. He liked witches, well, as much as witches were willing to be liked. And they always had the best parties. Unfortunately, Nik had an unfortunate habit of burning them out rather quickly. Especially the young ones. So when he had found out that a little Bennett witch had stood up to big, bad Nik more than once, naturally he was intrigued. He'd watched her, at first, and determined that this witch definitely didn't have the best parties and that she was also quite possibly borderline depressed. Her friends were horrible to her and Damon Salvatore had apparently made it his life's mission to torment her on a daily basis.

It had tugged a little at his dead heart to see her like that. At first he wasn't sure why, but then it hit him. She reminded him of Rebekah. His poor sister, who had been so neglected by her entire family, that she was starving for love and went looking for it in all the wrong places. Obviously, Kol wasn't blind to the fact that Bekah was a sociopath, they all were, well maybe except Elijah, but he was definitely dealing with some other issues, but he could still remember his innocent sister begging them all for attention and never really receiving it. Bonnie was like that in a way. Her mother had left her when she was young and her father spent more time out of town than in it. Her friends were so caught up in their own supernatural high school drama that they often forgot her and Jeremy Gilbert was a huge twat that definitely deserved to be introduced to the hard end of a baseball bat. Repeatedly.

Yes, Bonnie Bennett had been ripe for the taking. So, he took. He just hadn't expected her to take back. It wasn't on purpose, he knew, but she had taken possesion a little part of his heart and refused to let go.

Even after everything that had happened, he hadn't been able to let go either. He had followed her to Seattle, just to make sure she settled in nicely and that she wasn't hanging around the wrong people. Bekah had showed up a few weeks later, yelling and screaming about how pathetic he was and had finally managed to drag him off to Vienna. They had spent a year there, partying and doing what not, but neither of them had been truly happy. Sometimes Elijah would check in with them, acting as their moral compass and scolding them for making a scene. Nik had tried to reach out to Bekah, but she had ignored him and needlessly, Kol wasn't interested.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure he liked this century. Well, there were some things he liked. Bekah had gifted him with a small musical device, an iPod she called it, and it was truly marvellous. Also, the Black Keys and Kanye West were definitely up there on the list, but… There was something not right about this time. People were wrong, somehow. Too absorbed in petty things like this Facebook phenomenon, and too impersonal. Kol liked to be personal…

* * *

Rebekah had cracked eventually. It wasn't anything profound like one might have expected. One day she simply stopped eating, stopped smiling and then stopped going anywhere altogether. Kol had ignored it at first, simply because it was easier, but it soon became clear that it wasn't something that would pass like all her other infatuations usually did. This was something else. He thought about calling Elijah or maybe Nik, but what were they supposed to do? He'd seen his sister be angry, hurt and insolent countless times, but this was something different. The only other time she had been this distraught had been when Alexander had betrayed her. And then he finally understood.

"Are you tired yet, sister" he has asked one day. They were sitting in their spacious kitchen in their expensive apartment in the better part of Vienna. Everything was as it should be, yet it wasn't.

"Aren't you, brother" she has asked hollowly.

"Well, it's early…."

"I'm tired of running." She'd turned her empty stare at him. "I'm just tired."

"Bekah…"

"Mother is dead, father is dead, Henrick is dead, Finn is dead…"

"Alexander is dead."

"Yes. Alexander is dead too."

"But this is old news."

She scoffed. "_We're_ the old news, Kol. Don't you see?"

He sighed. "Okay, Bekah, I'll play along. What's wrong now? Did the mailman look at you wrong or did someone not ask to see your ID when you bought wine last week?"

"Shut up, Kol" she sighed, getting up from her chair. "You'd never understand."

"Well, you're just gonna have to use your small words and gestures then, because you're the one that insisted I come here with you and now you're miserable and no fun."

"Life isn't fun."

"Is that what you think?"

"Well, are you having fun, dear brother? Huh? Are you having the time of your life, living it to its fullest with everything it has to offer?"

He didn't answer.

"Answer me" Rebekah suddenly yelled. "Are you having fun, are you amused, are you…"

"No!" He had pushed her into the wall hard enough for it to crack. "No!"

"Me neither" she whispered.

"What do you want me to do, Bekah? Take you home to Nik so you can be his little pet again? Find you a new girlfriend?"

"I want you to kill me."

He laughed. There was no other response, because his sister had just asked him to kill her. "You are joking, right?"

"I'm not."

He collapsed back into his chair. "Bekah…"

"Please…" She kneeled down in front of him with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to be miserable anymore."

"You can't ask this of me."

"You're my brother."

"Bekah…"

"If you love me, you will do this. I don't want to be like this anymore."

He had called Natasha, an old witch he had used to run with in Russia in the nineteenth century. She was pretty deep in the black magic, but they went back and she owed him a few favours. Natasha had talked to Rebekah, talked to him and then talked to Rebekah some more. For days, it seemed like all they did was talk. But it didn't change anything.

* * *

"Will it hurt" Rebekah asked. Her eyes were wet, but she was holding back the tears.

"I spelled the stake dear" Natasha assured. "You'll feel a small stab and then…"

"Nothing" Rebekah said, nodding.

"I can't believe you're making me do this" he said, staring at the stake in his hand.

"Thank you" she whispered, kissing his cheek. "You always were my favourite."

"Liar" he muttered, trying not to cry too. "You hated me."

"I always loved you" she said with a small smile. "Which is why I want you to go back to your little witch and be happy."

"She hates me too."

"She doesn't hate you, Kol. She's just confused. Go back and make it right."

"It won't matter" he told her quietly. "It'll end anyway. She'll never let me turn her."

Rebekah looked at her hands. She was wearing the ring Alexander had worn. "There's a cure."

"What?"

"If you really want to be with her. There's a cure…"

"Bekah, I…"

"Just, promise me you'll think about it Kol. This isn't living. I want you to be happy." She looked at Natasha. "Everything ready?"

"Ready when you are, dear" the witch confirmed.

"I really do love you, Kol" Rebekah told him. "And I want this. It's right. I'll be with mother again, and Finn and Henrick and maybe even Alexander."

"I hope that for you, baby sister" Kol said, lifting the stake.

He'd buried her as she wished. With their family scattered all over the world, there was only one place Rebekah had an anchor to in the other life: Alexander. He'd stayed a while, after sending Natasha away, to mourn her and ponder about her last words. There was a cure.

* * *

Seattle was a mess of noise and smell as usual. It didn't take him long to find Bonnie though. She stood out in even the biggest crowd. She was living her life like she always wanted, being normal and happy. He didn't have it in him to intrude on that, so in stead he watched from afar. He compelled himself a job that would allow him to be in the know about most things and making it easier for him to keep an eye on her.

That's when he discovered Damon Salvatore was also sniffing around. At first he thought it was because that dreary doppeltganger was also in Seattle, but it soon became clear that the eldest Salvatore had other interests.

He had been aware that Damon Salvatore had a complicated relationship with Bonnie, if one might even call it that. He was also aware that he most certainly did not like Damon Salvatore and his complicated feelings for Bonnie. It was yet another case of transference for the stupid halfwit, of that Kol was certain. He couldn't have Katherine, and he couldn't have Elena, but he might have the next best thing: Elena's best friend since childhood. Beside, a sociopath like Damon was a sucker for routines: he liked the hard-to-get type of woman because he knew that kind of love, the complicated kind where you fight and he would be rejected again and again. Rejection was a stable in Damon Salvatore's life, why should he change that now?

* * *

Bonnie was silent for a long time after he had told her that there was a way for her to have her boring normal life. Then she finally sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Vampire isn't normal."

Kol almost swerved the car off the road at that. "What was that?"

"I know what you're thinking, but… I can't be a vampire, it would never work. Abby was barely managing and she didn't have any powers left at all."

"Well, neither do you, according to yourself" Kol pointed out righteously.

"It's not the same, Kol. They're there, they're just… blocked or something. But I still feel it sometimes. To be a vampire would just be wrong, it would go against everything I am."

"Is this really the time for this conversation?"

"You started it" Bonnie said angrily. "And your whole apartment is full of vampires with super hearing."

"Alright" Kol sighed, pulling the car over. "What do you want, beside your boring normal life?"

"Normal doesn't have to be boring" she defended angrily.

"Do you want me" he asked, cutting through all the tension there had been between them since they had reacquainted themselves.

"I do" she answered honestly. "But I don't see how we can make this work." There were tears in her eyes now.

"There's a cure."

"What?"

"A cure. For vampirism. Allegedly."

"That's not funny."

"I wasn't aware I was trying to be funny."

"Kol…" She wiped her eyes in a distracted fashion. "How do you even know this."

"Rebekah told me, before she… Well, before I shoved a stake in her chest."

"How did she know?"

He could tell she was back to her old witchy self, full of judgement and suspicion. "A long time ago, she met a man, Alexander, and she fell in love." He chuckled. "Of course, this being my darling sister, he turned out to be a part of a mythical vampire hunter group and tried to kill us all."

"And he had a cure?"

"He had a tattoo and a sword that led to the cure, he told Bekah."

"But if he knew she was a vampire, why would he tell her?"

"Because he loved her too. But love is a fickle thing, as you know. He hated her more than he loved her."

She stared at her hands. "Why did she tell you?"

"I guess she wanted me to have the option."

Another tear rolled down her cheek. "Can we just go home? I need to think about this."

"Of course" he answered, starting the car again. Maybe springing this on her in the car after dinner with her father wasn't the best idea? Especially since he'd practically bullied his way into joining them for dinner. But he needed to know what was happening now. He liked to have fun, but he was quickly discovering that he didn't particularly enjoy playing these emotional games with Bonnie. Not when he was risking his own heart.

They drove in silence and she ignored him as they walked back up to the apartment. Damon greeted them from the living room when they opened the door.

"Ah the lovebirds return. Have a good night?"

"Did someone accidently forget to lock the door" Kol asked, staring at the most annoying vampire he had ever met. If Katherine wasn't already dead, he'd have half a mind to go find her and punish her for this epic failure.

"Klaus let me in" Damon helpfully supplied with a smile.

"Of course he did" Kol growled. His brother would never miss a chance to piss him off.

"Kol, you have returned." Elijah appeared from the dining room. "Hello Miss Bennett."

"Bonnie is fine, Elijah" Bonnie said, discarding her jacket and disappearing into the kitchen.

"Did you have a good evening" Elijah asked cordially. He had been playing extra nice since arriving; probably hoping it would somehow rub on him and Nik.

"It was informative" Kol offered, dumping his own jacket on a chair and knocking Damon's feet of the table. "Out."

"What did I do?"

"You're here!" Kol grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. "And now you're leaving!"

"What?"

"There's a very nice homeless shelter a couple of blocks from here. I'm sure you'll feel right at home." He pushed Damon out of the door and slammed it shut.

"Very diplomatic" Elijah noted.

"Why did you let him stay" Kol asked angrily. He felt like pacing or punching something, anything really. He wasn't sure he could sit still right now.

"I wasn't aware that it was an issue" Elijah answered coolly. "Are you alright?"

"Like you care" Kol muttered.

Elijah sighed. "Kol, I _am_ still your big brother, if…"

"Spare me" Kol interrupted, finally sitting down. He immediately got back up, though, when he heard Bonnie dropping a glass in the kitchen.

"Sorry" she yelled, but he could hear her voice was somewhat wobbly.

The front door opened a moment later and Elena entered, carrying a grocery bag. "Hi, I think I got the right kind of juice that Bonnie likes, and also, I got some…" She looked at Kol and Elijah. "What's going on?"

Elijah took a step forward, holding out his hand. "Perhaps we should leave, Elena."

She looked between Elijah and Kol. "Is everything okay?"

"Fine, but I think we need to give Kol and Miss Bennett the evening alone" Elijah said smoothly, already guiding Elena back out of the door. Kol frowned a little; he could hear Elena jabbing on about the bloody juice on the other side of the door. His brother truly has atrocious tastes in women.

"We'll talk later" Elijah shut the door behind them, effectively shutting the annoying doppeltganger up. There was a bloodline Kol definitely didn't mind dying.

He rubbed the back of his neck and walked out into the kitchen where he found Bonnie on the floor, picking up pieces of glass and trying her best not to cry.

"Stupid glass" she muttered angrily.

"I'll be sure to buy smarter glass in the future" he told her, squatting down and helping her with the shards of glass.

"I can't do this!"

"Pick up glass?"

"Ask you to take the cure."

"Okay, then don't" he told her calmly, still picking up pieces of glass.

"I'm serious!"

"So am I" he countered, finally giving up pretences that they weren't in fact having this conversation right now. "I'm not asking you to become a vampire either."

"Then what now, then? We just carry on until I'm some creepy cougar-looking old lady and you still look nineteen." She wiped away a tear. "It's not fair."

"That's life, and there's no point crying about it either." He discarded the glass in the trash bin.

"I can't be a vampire" she repeated her statement from earlier. "But I can't ask you to change when I'm not willing to do it either."

"Do you want to leave?"

"No."

It was such a simple statement really, but it was what he needed to hear. To know for certain that she had finally made up her mind, that they were done playing these stupid games they both hated anyway and that she wanted to work this out, somehow.

He gently wiped another tear away. "Alright. Then we will work this out somehow. I have no idea what my crazy sister really knew about this cure, but I'll look into it and maybe that will be the right thing. Maybe in a few years you'll change your mind about being forever young."

"Maybe I'll just stick to botox" she joked through the tears.

He kissed her. "You'll look beautiful no matter what."

"So that's it" she asked quietly. "We just…" She shrugged, "wait?"

"Well, I was thinking we could do a little more than just wait."

"What about Sara and the dead witches? We're still no closer to figuring this out."

"I'm sure Nik will keep on looking and Sara is obviously no threat now. The only thing she'll be good as is a headless rider now."

"That's not funny."

"I think it's a little bit funny."

"I might just do that to you if you're not careful."

"No, you like me far to much. You'd miss my pretty eyes."

"Meh" she said with a fake shrug, but smiled when he kissed her again.

"And you're moving in here."

"What?" The smile on her face disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. "Why?"

"Because anyone can just walk into your dorm room at their leisure and kill you."

"Well gee thanks, I'm sure I'll sleep fine tonight now."

"I'm serious."

"So am I" she said. "Moving in together is a big commitment."

"Then commit."

"It's not that simple."

"Are you sure you're just not making it harder than it's supposed to be?"

"Kol, I don't think we're ready for this."

"You do know you practically live here already, right?"

"But that's different."

"Enlighten me."

"I don't _actually_ live her, I have somewhere else to go."

"So the problem is that you don't have enough space?"

"No the problem is that I'll be here all the time and all my stuff will be here and you'll be here…"

"So the problem is me?"

"No, but…" She made an annoyed grunt. "Moving in together is a huge step."

"Think of it this way: no one's going to stake you here." He caught his own words and smirked. "Well, not in the deadly sense at least."

She blushed and gave him a push. "I'll think about it."

"The staking?"

"The moving in part. You're such a _guy_!"

He grabbed her and kissed her neck. "_Definitely_."

* * *

Bonnie didn't so much change her mind as Kol just sort of didn't bring it up again and emptied a few drawers for her when more stuff started to appear. She still had the dorm room, but he was pretty sure she hadn't been by it since he had dropped her off there when she was first reassigned to it. He was already talking to a lawyer about signing the apartment over to her so uninvited vampires would at least be barred. That way, he would also be rid of Damon Salvatore for good.

Nik and Elijah were still hanging around. Elijah would often get this soft look in his eyes when he was observing Kol and Bonnie together, something that truly bothered Kol, but he didn't want another invitation to talk about his feelings with his older brother, so he let it pass. Nik was still chasing down leads for the dead witches and currently obsessing over Sara's coven that he believed held the answers he wanted. Kol almost felt sorry for the stupid tarts.

He hadn't shared Rebekah's fate with either of his brothers. Bonnie had let him talk himself dry about it and that was enough for now. He hadn't told them about the cure either. It could wait until he knew more, he told himself. Right now, they didn't need to know.

* * *

"Kol, I'm home" Bonnie called from the hallway.

He put the book he had been reading (Beautiful Creatures) down and got up. "I feel like you should be calling me honey."

"Would you like me to call you honey" she asked with a smile.

"No you know I prefer Lord Almighty or Master of all things."

"Yeah, I think you're more of a pooh bear too" she laughed.

"You'll pay for that" he muttered, kissing her. It was so easy to fall into a seemingly normal life with Bonnie. Something about her ways calmed him and he didn't mind so much that he was living a mostly human life now.

"I'm sure you'll come up with something inventive."

"Don't I always" he asked with a smirk. "So, did you have a nice day?"

"Yeah it was okay. I'm starting a new class in January."

"Anything exciting?"

"A professor Atticus Shane."

"Atticus Shane? Did his parents smoke pot?"

"Your name is Kol!"

"And it rolls very nicely off your tongue."

"Anyway, he's teaching a class about the occult and witches through history and I thought I might check it out."

"How intriguing."

"Liar, you think it sounds boring."

"Well, considering I lived through history with the occult and witches, perhaps it would be better for you to just stay home in bed and listen to me."

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "That's your solution for everything."

"It's a great solution!"

She tossed a head of lettuce at him. "Get to work, Mikaelson. Elena and Elijah will be over in a few hours."

"Yes Master" he smirked, kissing her again. In these moments, he could easily tell himself that everything was fine and that they'd make it through

* * *

**A/N2: So, that's that. Thank you for joining me on this little adventure into my weird and sugar-high imagination. I thank each and every one of you for your time, attention and especially your reviews. It means a lot.**

**I originally planned to take a long vacation from fanfiction and spend some time with my much-neglected thesis, but my brain is already working on several oneshots featuring Kol and Bonnie and I've also been fiddling a little with a Teen Wolf story that I might just end up posting at some point. So I'm afraid you haven't seen (read?) the last of me just yet.**

**Lots and lots of love, hugs, sunshine and rainbows to you all**

**Anne**


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